Lazio director confirms agreement with Arsenal for Nuno Tavares

Arsenal have reached an agreement with Lazio for the transfer of Nuno Tavares, with the Italian club negotiating personal terms with the player to wrap up the deal.

Tavares has spent three years with the Gunners having emerged as the club's first signing of the 2021 summer window. However, the versatile full-back played just one season in north London before earning several loan spells away.

While undoubtedly gifted and a handy wing-back, Tavares was simply too raw for the Mikel Arteta project and he hasn't exactly shown signs, despite a productive spell with Marseille, of drastic improvement.

Tavares is set to leave Arsenal having made 28 appearances for the club, scoring once and recording two assists.

Nuno Tavares closes in on Lazio switch after Arsenal agree deal

The 24-year-old has garnered interest from overseas having spent the last two seasons with Marseille and Nottingham Forest. Ajax were keen, but Lazio have moved well ahead in the race and are aiming to wrap up a deal soon.

Fabrizio Romano reported on Wednesday morning that the Gunners had agreed a fee with the Serie A club in the region of €7/8m.

“We want Nuno Tavares and there’s an agreement with Arsenal," Lazio director Angelo Mariano Fabiani has said.

“We now need to agree on personal terms with Nuno’s agents but I’m very confident, we have very good chances to sign him”.

According to Spotrac, Tavares earns £30,000-a-week in north London. Given the full-back's desire to play regularly, it's hard to imagine personal terms being a major sticking point with the historic Italian club.

Lazio are undergoing a fairly significant rebuild with new coach Marco Baroni following the surprise exit of Igor Tudor at the end of the season. The Biancocelesti, who finished second in Serie A with Maurizio Sarri at the helm two campaigns ago, have several versatile operators at full-back, including Adam Marusic and Elseid Hysaj, while Luca Pellegrini is a more traditional left-back option. Still, there's scope for Tavares to arrive in the Italian capital and assume a starting role next season.

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