NUNO TAVARES has slammed Arsenal for not including an option to make his Marseille loan move permanent.
The let-back, 22, revealed he is happy at the French giants as he left in search of more game time.
He has found that, featuring in all six league games – with Marseille also offering him to chance to play in the Champions League starting with the trip to Tottenham on Wednesday.
But Tavares is baffled by Arsenal refusing to include the option to make his Marseille loan permanent, should the French club wish to do so.
In an interview with RMC Sport he said: “At Arsenal, I do not know if it was a problem of competition with Kieran Tierney, but for me, that’s not even the point.
“I came to Marseille to finally be able to play in my position. When signing with OM, I wanted to have an option to buy, but Arsenal refused. With my agents, we always wanted this purchase option, but Arsenal didn’t.
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“Now I’m at OM, and with or without an option, I’m happy. At Arsenal, I would have probably only played in the cup.
“I came to Marseille to play in my position, in the Champions League, in the league and in the cup. Marseille gave me this opportunity.”
Tavares is making the most of his newfound game time and has already scored three goals in his six appearances.
The Portuguese shocked Gooners with a screamer on his debut, with his latest goal coming in the 3-0 win over Nicolas Pepe’s OGC Nice.
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Tavares scored just once in 28 Arsenal appearances last term but was allowed to leave following the signing of Oleksandr Zinechnko.
And with the Ukrainian set to battle Kieran Tierney for the left-back role, Tavares cannot understand why he was held back from leaving permanently.
Tierney revealed he is relishing the competition for his place in a sly dig at Tavares which suggested the youngster was not good enough to challenge him for a place in the team.
The Scot said: “At a club like Arsenal, you need competition.
“For where we want to go, you need at least two players for each position. He [Zinchenko] is a great signing.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
