Nuno Tavares confirms he wanted permanent Arsenal exit

Nuno Tavares has admitted that he wanted to join Marseille on a permanent basis from Arsenal this summer.

The Portuguese had a poor debut season with the north London giants last term which saw the Gunners sign Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.

Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney are now quite clearly the regular choices at left-back, and Tavares has accepted that he wanted to leave the club for good.

He told RMC Sport: "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."

Arsenal previously loaned out Matteo Guendouzi to Marseille with an obligation to buy for just €10m. He has been a huge hit for them.

The hierarchy are definitely wary of another repeat on Tavares, and the lack of a buy option allows them freedom to set their own price tag.