Nottingham Forest will sign Nuno Tavares imminently after the documentation was signed late last night. The Arsenal man will now join the Reds ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Chelsea in the Premier League.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the Reds have now got this deal over the line. He will sign initially on a loan until the end of the season and some interesting bits and bobs are part of the deal.
It’s thought that the loan fee has cost the Reds £1 million, which seems very reasonable. Forest will also hold an option to sign him permanently for £12 million in 12 months.
However, it’s also been claimed by Romano that the option to buy could become mandatory. That would be dependent on certain clauses being hit during his loan spell.
Forest fans will remember Tavares for all the wrong reasons. He was substituted after just 20 minutes as Arsenal were dumped out of the FA Cup by Forest during the 2021/22 campaign after being tormented by Djed Spence.
Still, he’s matured a lot since then. Although he’s only made 28 appearances for the Gunners, he went on loan to Marseille last season and managed to score six goals.
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Forest were also linked with Ismail Jakobs to fill their left-back void this summer and Tavares looks like a better option. Squawka shows that the 23-year-old wins more tackles, makes more passes and also completes more blocks than the Monaco star.
Forest set to sign Tavares imminently
This looks like a good deal for the Reds. Forest fans might have memories of Tavares being substituted in embarrassing style back in 2022 but he shouldn’t be judged on one brief appearance.
Tavares was one of the best left-sided wing-backs in Ligue 1 last season. Marseille finished third in the top-flight and they qualified for the Champions League.
At 23, the player has bags of time on his side to continue honing his trade and Forest head coach Steve Cooper will fancy working hard to improve Tavares.
This looks unlikely to be the last deal that Forest do on transfer deadline day. The club have several irons in the fire but Tavares looks like a very shrewd piece of business by the football club.