Arsenal £8m forgotten man sends clear message to Mikel Arteta with 'trust' comments

Arsenal forgotten man Nuno Tavares has sent a clear message to Mikel Arteta with his comments about 'trust'. The player hinted that he never felt trusted by Arteta during his time at Arsenal.

Tavares was signed by Arsenal from Benfica for £8million in the summer of 2021, but since then, he has only made 28 appearances for the club. He spent the 2022/23 season on loan at Marseille and is currently at Nottingham Forest, where he continues to struggle for game time.

The 24-year-old left-back had a shaky start at Arsenal and was twice substituted by Arteta after unsteady performances. Tavares had a more successful stint at Marseille, scoring six goals in 39 appearances, but has faced similar challenges at Forest, where former manager Steve Cooper didn't use him much.

This season, he has only played 11 times and remains under contract with Arsenal until June 2025, but it is expected that he will be put up for transfer this summer. Oleksandr Zinchenko, Jakub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu have all performed well at left-back this season, which led to Kieran Tierney being loaned out to Real Sociedad.

In a recent interview with French media outlet L'Equipe, Tavares spoke positively about his better times with Benfica and Marseille. «It was the best moment of my career,» he said of his time at Marseille, reports the Mirror.

«I got some interesting stats. In France, football is more physical, faster than in Portugal. It's not as competitive as the Premier League, but I really liked French football for its intensity.

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