Arsenal allowed quite a few players to leave the club in the 2024 summer transfer window.
The Gunners have one of the best teams in the world. They have top-class players in almost every position on the pitch and there is no room for underperformers anymore.
Arsenal sold the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Aaron Ramsdale in the summer, while a few others were loaned out.
One of them is now having an incredible campaign and is even outshining several huge stars across Europe’s big leagues.
Nuno Tavares is outperforming Vinicius Jr and Kylian Mbappe in key stat
Arsenal loaned Nuno Tavares to Serie A side Lazio in the summer.
The Portuguese defender has had a very difficult couple of years. He had a poor end to his spell at Marseille and then had a terrible time at Nottingham Forest, where he barely played.
Arsenal wanted to move Tavares on permanently in the summer, but the only deal they could agree was with Lazio, who have signed him on loan and are obligated to make that permanent in 2025.
Tavares has had a phenomenal start to life at Lazio. He has provided five assists in five games, which is a stunning return for a full-back.
Tavares has even earned Mesut Ozil’s nickname following his recent performances – he is being called the king of assists, which is big praise.
Now, CIES Football Observatory have released some data regarding take-ons. Their take-on index is ‘computed on a scale of 100 from the frequency of successful dribbles achieved by players, corrected by their success rate’.
You would imagine that the likes of Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal are all high on the list, but Tavares is outperforming all of the above names.
The Arsenal loanee ranks third with a score of 86.8, which puts him above Vinicius (86.2), Yamal (85.4) and also Mbappe (82.1).
One Arsenal target is the king of take-ons
Every team needs attackers who are capable of taking on defenders and having a big impact in the final third.
Arsenal have Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli capable of doing that, but neither of them have made it into the top 50 of CIES’ take-on index scores, which is a shame. Tavares, who is still on the books, ranks third but he will not be an Arsenal player in 2025.
However, one of Mikel Arteta’s targets is on top of the list – Mohammed Kudus.
The West Ham star has earned a score of 92.6, which is absolutely incredible. He is such a good player and we’re sure he will be a wanted man soon.
Arsenal have been linked with a move to sign Kudus. We think he will be a brilliant player if Edu can get him in one of the next two windows.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
