He is still 24 years old, but Nuno Albertino Varela Tavares (Lisbon, 1-26-2000) has already had, as we would say colloquially, a few ‘hit shots’.
The Polar graph by Nuno Tavares.Driblab
Arsenal snatched him from Benfica in 2021 after paying 8 million. Under Arteta he only played 28 games (1,499′) in which he left one goal and two assists. He went out on loan in search of minutes to Olympique Marseille in 2022-23 and, despite playing as a left-footed winger/back, he showed signs of his offensive potential: he scored six goals in 39 games.
He went on loan again, this time to Nottingham Forest, last season… but it didn’t go so well: he barely played 696 minutes. This summer history seemed to repeat itself: he landed on loan at Lazio with a (mandatory) purchase option of 5 million euros. Arsenal only reserved 20% of a future sale.
More assists than Yamal, Saka, Marmoush…
Hence in London they pull their hair… and in Rome they rub their hands. Nuno Tavares has exploded as a ‘3’ in Baroni’s 1-4-2-3-1 to the point of becoming the top assist player in the five major leagues. Eight assists in nine games support him. One step further down, with seven, appear Omar Marmoush, Lamine Yamal and Bukayo Saka.
It has merit. His xA (Expected Assists) rating is 2.4. In other words: he has distributed 5.6 more assists than what the quality of the chances he has had indicates, according to statistics. Not only that. The former Benfica youth player is the fifth player in Serie A who serves the most crosses into the area (17), the seventh who completes the most dribbles successfully (17) and the eighth who has the most progressive drives – of more than 10 meters in the direction of the area rival- performs (40).
Its price (5 million) has been a ‘bargain’. “We won. We have already generated a capital gain. I wouldn’t sell him even for 70 million. We have defeated many big names in the fight for the side,” Claudio Lotito, president of Lazio, assured ‘Il Messaggero’.
We have defeated many big names in the fight for the side
Claudio Lotito
Debut with Portugal
Nuno Tavares’ season has not gone unnoticed, either, by Roberto Martínez, who gave him the opportunity to make his debut with Portugal’s senior team in this last break, in the 5-1 against Poland.
However, he returned to Rome ‘touched’ and will be out this weekend against Bologna. “It’s a big loss. We haven’t had such a strong left back for years,” says Ernesto Callisti, former Lazio player.
Nuno Tavares greets Roberto Martínez at the Portugal concentration.EFE
It’s a big loss. It has been years since we had such a strong left back
Ernesto Callisti
Materazzi: “He was the player who surprised me the most”
Even former Inter player Marco Materazzi has surrendered to Nuno Tavares in an interview with ‘Lucky Block’: “The players who surprised me the most this season were Nuno Tavares at Lazio, Francisco Conceiçao at Juventus and Marcus Thuram at Inter. I also liked him. Samuele Ricci impressed at Torino.”
Tavares, for his part, shared the dividends with his teammates on ‘DAZN’: “The credit goes to the team that puts me in a position to do what I know. It’s easy to play with such experienced footballers.”
