Tavares had been enjoying an extended holiday over the summer after representing Portugal in the under-21 Euros.
And despite looking in a very mood as he returned to training, Tavares was the only member of the senior side not wearing a squad number.
Tavares posted two pictures on his Instagram of him back in training with the squad ahead of tonight’s Emirates Cup game against AS Monaco.
View Instagram Post
But as you can see, and journalist Jeorge Bird pointed out on X, Tavares doesn’t have a squad number.
Bird said: “Nuno Tavares is back at London Colney. Looks like he hasn’t been given a squad number.”
Tavares is one of several players Arsenal are reportedly looking to offload this summer and it seems he won’t have a squad number when training in the interim.
Whether that means the full-back won’t feature in tonight’s game remains to be seen, but it doesn’t seem to bode well for any Arsenal future.
Tavares previously wore the number 20 which isn’t now occupied by another player.
Nuno Tavares returns to Arsenal training without a squad number
Fellow London side West Ham were linked with a cut-price £8m move for Tavares during negotiations for Declan Rice.
Whether that interest still exists isn’t clear but you would expect there to be plenty of suitors for the full-back.Whilst he can still improve defensively, Tavares has exceptional attacking qualities that can unlock teams at any level.
Tavares would look very adept as a left wing-back, but perhaps a full-back role, as Arsenal deploy, doesn’t suit his skill-set.
Arsenal’s priority now seems to be dealing with any departures in their large squad.
And with Tavares seemingly returning to Arsenal training without a squad number, you would expect it may not be too long until he departs.
There is of course the possibility that he is in the midst of changing numbers, but with reports over his potential exit that doesn’t seem likely.
0 Comments