Will Tavares follow Saliba's path to consolidate Arsenal spot?
Marseille has become a bit of a landing zone for Arsenal players past and present. William Saliba spent last season on loan at Marseille and is now first choice centre-back for Mikel Arteta's side. Alexis Sanchez is their top scorer in Ligue 1 this season with four goals from his seven outings, while no player for L'OM has provided more assists than Matteo Guendouzi. What's more, Sead Kolasinac joined at the turn of the year on an 18-month contract. The latter trio are all regular features for Igor Tudor's side having made the permanent move to the Velodrome at one point or another in 2022.
However, the star performer for Marseille this season is one the club do not even own. Nuno Tavares joined Arsenal from Benfica last summer and went on to make 13 league starts for the Gunners in his debut season, though this was to provide cover for Kieran Tierney during his time on the sidelines.
Even so, Tavares did struggle during his rare outings. A WhoScored rating of 6.42 was the lowest of all Arsenal players in the Premier League last season of those to start at least five games. The arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko, meanwhile, meant playing time would have been further limited had he not departed.
The Portuguese full-back has certainly benefitted from his switch to Marseille with Tavares far and away their best rated player in Ligue 1 this season having earned a WhoScored rating of 7.49, that the eighth best overall in France's top tier. Part of that impressive return in Ligue 1 has been down to Tudor's use of a three-man defence.
Jorge Sampaoli did use such a setup on occasion last season, yet his favoured formation over the duration of the campaign was a 4-3-3, not too dissimilar to how Arsenal lined up in 2021/22. Yet Tudor, in part due to the respective departures of Saliba and Boubacar Kamara, has used a 3-4-2-1 system in all eight league matches so far this season to beef out the backline to ease the exits of the duo and maintain a defensive resolve that saw Marseille concede just 38 league goals last term, that the third fewest.
In fairness, a wholesale change in shape has had the desired effect. Marseille have shipped just five league goals in the opening eight matches of 2022/23 - only PSG (4) have conceded fewer - while the use of the three-man defence hasn't impaired their attack, with 16 league goals scored the fourth most. Much of that has been due to the wing-backs, with Tavares and fellow summer arrival Jonathan Clauss shining down the left and right, respectively.
Clauss, like Guendouzi, also has two league assists to his name and he is the perfect fit at right wing-back for Marseille, just as he was for Lens last season. With Tavares, though, Arsenal need to not be so hasty in cashing in on the 22-year-old, just as they were with Guendouzi. Admittedly, the latter moved to Marseille on loan with an option to buy, providing certain conditions were met, an option that the French side activated in the summer as Guendouzi made his move permanent for a rumoured £9m.
Arsenal have at least opted against including an option to buy in the deal, which is a boost for the Gunners, especially as Tavares' stock continues to soar in France. The issue will be whether there is a spot for Tavares in this Arsenal side once his loan deal expires next summer.
In Tierney and Zinchenko, Arteta has two quality left-back options that impress in a system that relies on the left full-back to get forward and support the offensive while the right-back tucks in to maintain the Gunners' defensive solidity. It's wholly different at Marseille, where Tavares is deployed further forward to maximise his attacking output, and with three centre-backs in support, there is less onus on him to carry out these defensive duties, safe in the knowledge he wouldn't be caught out when he did get forward.
And he capitalises on the freedom granted to him by Tudor to get upfield with the ball where possible to stretch opponents. Indeed, Tavares has completed more dribbles (17) than any other defender in Ligue 1 this season and while a dribble success rate of 37.8% doesn't make for great reading, the on-loan defender's determination to try and beat a man is commendable.
What does stand out is what Tavares does do with the ball when he gets into attacking positions. While some may seek to create for others, Tavares instead goes for goal himself having managed the 16th most shots (18) in France's top tier this term, that more than any Marseille player. In chancing his luck where possible, Tudor has an additional threat at his disposal that can be utilised from the left if the attacking midfielders or forward are unable to work the space.
Crucially, is that Tavares works hard off the ball and that allows Marseille to quickly turn defence into attack. Tudor's side have developed statistically calculated WhoScored strengths of 'stealing the ball from the opposition' and 'counter attacks', with the former quality vital in achieving the latter. To reinforce the latter strength, only PSG (5) have scored more counterattacking goals than Marseille (3) in Ligue 1 this season.
Tavares is vital in that regard having made the 11th most tackles (22) in the 2022/23 Ligue 1 campaign, and he is more than capable of both robbing the opposition of possession and then getting forward with the ball to help Marseille attacking with speed.
Arsenal were wise not to include an option to buy Tavares in the same way they did Guendouzi in the loan deal that saw the latter join Marselle permanently earlier this year. Tavares may not have an immediate spot in the Gunners XI given he is behind Zinchenko and Tierney in the pecking order at the Emirates, yet with crucial game time in a system that plays to his strengths, Arsenal can at least avoid making a similar mistake they made with Guendouzi with a view to the left-back securing a place in Arteta's side further down the line.
