Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares is closing in on a move to Nottingham Forest on what will be an initial loan, but there are a number of factors which could see it made permanent.
Tavares joined Arsenal in 2021 for around £8m from Benfica, but after a disappointing season, he went on loan to Olympique Marseille.
He now looks set to move to Nottingham Forest, who have come back in for the 23-year-old after initially withdrawing their interest, and his loan move is set to be announced imminently.
Fabrizio Romano has now revealed that Tavares will join Forest on an initial loan for a fee of around £1m, with an option to buy for £12m, with £3m in addons.
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Whilst an obligation to buy may have been preferable to an option, Romano has confirmed that Tavares meets certain conditions whilst on loan, the deal will become automatically permanent.
“Nuno Tavares loan deal has been signed now between Nottingham Forest and Arsenal with new details. Understand loan fee is £1m, buy option £12m but also £3m extra add-ons for Arsenal. Told buy option clause could become mandatory if certain conditions are met,” he tweeted.
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A healthy profit
Given that Arsenal stand to potentially earn £16m from this deal if it is made permanent, they will have doubled their money on Tavares within two years of his arrival.
This represents a good sale, given that Tavares has no place in Mikel Arteta’s plans, and whilst he did not succeed at Arsenal, his signing was a fair gamble on a young talent at the time.
Tavares arrived as backup to Kieran Tierney, and whilst he did occasionally show flashes of brilliance, he failed to deliver when Tierney picked up an injury in the race for a top-four spot, as his strong physical attributes could not mask his lack of positional discipline.