Arsenal have less than five days left in the transfer window to complete their business, and a main issue for the club is sales, with a number of unwanted players yet to leave.
The likes of Rob Holding and Nicolas Pepe are finally gaining interest, but the club may be left frustrated in their attempts to sell left-back Nuno Tavares.
There is concrete interest in the 23-year-old, but he recently saw a proposed move to Nottingham Forest fall through.
Football.London have now reported that Aston Villa are interested in the defender, but they are more keen on a loan deal, whilst Arsenal are pushing for a permanent sale.
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The club have already succumbed to loaning Kieran Tierney to Real Sociedad after failing to find a buyer, and they may now face the same frustration with Tavares.
Could Arsenal keep Tavares?
As with all the fringe players in the squad, the lack of buyers does raise the question of whether it would be worth keeping Tavares, particularly after Tierney’s departure and Jurrien Timber’s long-term injury.
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However, despite these issues at left-back, Arsenal should not even consider keeping Tavares. The former Benfica prospect played for Arsenal for just one season, and was deemed unsuitable to the squad before being loaned to Marseille.
Whilst his spell in France was productive, as he made 39 appearances, he received criticism, being described as “disjointed” in his defensive abilities, and he is definitely not at the required level to provide cover for Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Arsenal will hope that a buyer emerges in the coming days to help boost their finances after a summer of heavy spending, but given that they have struggled to sell all summer, this could be a difficult few days ahead before the transfer window closes on Friday night.