Chelsea actually tried to sign player Arsenal sold for £6m but they were told to pay £43.5m

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Mikel Arteta has allowed a number of players to leave Arsenal over the years.

Barely anyone from the Unai Emery and Arsene Wenger era is still at the club, while some of the players the Arsenal manager signed himself have been moved on.

Arteta has been right with almost all of his decisions so far, and the fact that Arsenal are on top of the Premier League table now proves that.

One of the players Arteta signed and sold was Nuno Tavares, and he has had an eventful career since his departure.

Chelsea tried to sign former Arsenal star Nuno Tavares in the summer

Arsenal signed Tavares from Benfica in the summer of 2021.

The Portuguese defender had an impressive start to life at the Emirates and even kept then-first-choice left-back Kieran Tierney on the bench.

Many fans felt Tavares was a gem of a signing, but in the second half of his debut season, his form fell off a cliff, and he made too many mistakes.

The left-back has since had loan spells at Marseille, Nottingham Forest and most recently Lazio on loan. He was sold in the summer to the Italian side for around £6.7 million after an impressive season there.

Watching him in Italy, Chelsea, along with Inter Milan and Juventus, enquired about signing him in the summer, according to Il Messaggero.

However, Lazio demanded an eye-watering €50 million (£43.5m) for Tavares, and no move materialised in the end.

The Biancocelesti are now ready to offload Tavares, and the report claims that he will be available for much less than the fee they wanted in the summer.

It remains to be seen if Chelsea will try their luck again in 2026.

Arsenal could make serious money if Chelsea sign Nuno Tavares

Selling Tavares was the right decision, but Arsenal, who have historically been terrible sellers, should’ve got a better deal.

However, Edu Gaspar managed to insert a very clever clause in his contract when the loan-with-obligation-to-buy transfer was struck.

According to the report, Arsenal have a 40 per cent sell-on clause included in the terms of the deal when Tavares was moved on to Lazio.

So, even if Chelsea or any other club sign Tavares for £25 million, the Gunners will pocket £10 million, which is more than what they paid to sign him from Benfica four years ago.