Nuno Albertino Varela Tavares (European Portuguese: [ˈnunu taˈvaɾɨʃ]; born 26 January 2000) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest on loan from Arsenal.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Nuno Albertino Varela Tavares[1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 26 January 2000||
Place of birth | Lisbon, Portugal[2] | ||
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||
Position(s) | Left-back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team |
Nottingham Forest (on loan from Arsenal) | ||
Number | 3 | ||
Youth career | |||
2009–2010 | Casa Pia | ||
2010–2013 | Sporting CP | ||
2013–2015 | Casa Pia | ||
2015–2018 | Benfica | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2018–2019 | Benfica B | 19 | (0) |
2019–2021 | Benfica | 25 | (1) |
2021– | Arsenal | 22 | (1) |
2022–2023 | → Marseille (loan) | 31 | (6) |
2023– | → Nottingham Forest (loan) | 8 | (0) |
International career | |||
2018 | Portugal U18 | 8 | (0) |
2018–2019 | Portugal U19 | 14 | (1) |
2019–2023 | Portugal U21 | 16 | (1) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:57, 13 April 2024 (UTC) |
Born in Lisbon of Cape Verdean descent, Tavares finished his development with Benfica after three years at city rivals Sporting CP and two stints with Casa Pia.[3][4][5] His manager at Casa Pia, João Silva, drove him home from training every day while also allowing his studies to take priority.[6]
Tavares made his senior debut with Benfica's reserves in the LigaPro, his first match being a 3–2 home win against Covilhã on 27 October 2018.[7] He played his first official game with the first team on 4 August 2019, featuring 90 minutes in the 5–0 victory over Sporting in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira at the Estádio Algarve.[8] His Primeira Liga bow took place the following week, opening an eventual 5–0 home defeat of Paços de Ferreira and adding two assists.[9] However, his weaknesses were exposed two weeks later in a 2–0 loss to Porto in O Clássico, which led him to return to the B side and lose his place to Tomás Tavares, being limited to occasional domestic cup matches in place of Alejandro Grimaldo.[6]
Following a difficult season, and a video posted on the Instagram account of a friend of Tavares where Grimaldo was referred to in derogatory terms, Benfica decided to sell the player in spite of his public apologies.[6] During his spell at the club, he made 41 competitive appearances.[10]
On 10 July 2021, Tavares joined Arsenal on a long-term contract in a deal worth around £8 million.[11][12] He made his Premier League debut on 13 August, coming on as a late substitute for Calum Chambers in a 2–0 away defeat to Brentford.[13] Following an injury to Kieran Tierney he managed to earn a starting spot, initially achieving good performances and earning praise from coach Mikel Arteta, who especially liked his attacking qualities; however, he also struggled with homesickness, and his defensive frailties, positional mistakes and lapses in concentration led to him being regularly substituted at half-time during matches, most notably when he offered a goal to Diogo Jota in the 4–0 defeat to Liverpool following a misplaced pass.[14][15][16]
Tavares scored his first goal on 23 April 2022, through a calm tap-in after David de Gea had saved Bukayo Saka's curl in the third minute of an eventual 3–1 home win against Manchester United.[17]
On 30 July 2022, Tavares moved to Ligue 1 club Marseille on a season-long loan;[18] he wanted to have the option to sign permanently at the end of the deal, but Arteta refused to sanction it.[19] He scored on his debut, a 4–1 home victory over Reims.[20] He repeated the feat the following matchday, in the 1–1 draw at Brest.[21]
Tavares improved his form under manager Igor Tudor, with his attacking style being put to good use in the latter's system.[22][23] On 2 January 2023, however, in the last minutes of a 2–1 away defeat of Montpellier – he had opened the score at the start of the second half – he gave away a penalty after deliberately kicking Arnaud Souquet in the box and was consequently sent off,[24] being handed a three-match ban for his actions two days later.[25]
On 1 September 2023, Tavares joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the season with a £12 million option to buy.[26]
Tavares won his first cap for Portugal at under-21 level on 10 September 2019, in a 2–0 win in Belarus for the 2021 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.[27] On 7 October 2021, against Liechtenstein in the next edition, he scored the first goal in the 11–0 rout in Vizela.[28]
Tavares was included in a provisional squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,[29] but did not make the final cut.[30]
Tavares was involved in the Amazon Original sports docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.[31][32]
Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Benfica B | 2018–19[33] | Liga Portugal 2 | 12 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||||
2019–20[33] | Liga Portugal 2 | 7 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||||
Total | 19 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 19 | 0 | ||||||
Benfica | 2019–20[33] | Primeira Liga | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 16 | 1 |
2020–21[33] | Primeira Liga | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5[d] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 25 | 0 | |
Total | 25 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 1 | ||
Arsenal | 2021–22[34] | Premier League | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 1 | ||
Marseille (loan) | 2022–23[33] | Ligue 1 | 31 | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | 6[e] | 0 | — | 39 | 6 | ||
Nottingham Forest (loan) | 2023–24[33] | Premier League | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 12 | 0 | |||
Career total | 105 | 8 | 12 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 139 | 8 |
Benfica