Nuno Tavares, who is on loan from Arsenal at Marseille, could play for ‘Real [Madrid], Barcelona and Manchester City’, according to Igor Tudor (per Fabrizio Romano on Twitter).

Tudor, who is the current manager of Marseille, made it clear just how highly he rates the Portuguese full-back. He said: “He’s still a young player but he has fantastic physical capacities. He’s got an outstanding ability to run.

“He could play at Real [Madrid], at Barcelona, at Manchester City. He still needs to grow and progress, we talk a lot to him.”

Tavares has been on loan at Marseille since the beginning of the 2022/23 season – since then, he has scored six goals in 24 Ligue 1 appearances.

As a member of the Les Olympiens squad, Tavares has found himself being utilised in more advanced positions. While at Arsenal, Tavares was generally used as a full-back or a wing-back – at Marseille, he has found great success being played as a wide midfielder. His goals tally is perfect evidence of this – he has yet to register a league assist, however.

At just 23 years of age, the world is still at Tavares’ feet. The shift to wide midfield should benefit him greatly – his attacking play is much stronger than his overall defensive acumen.

Upon his return to Arsenal, he should be played in this position – the Gunners already have two brilliant left-backs in the form of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney. If he is played out of his best position, Tavares may become unsettled and request a move elsewhere – it would be a massive shame if Arsenal lost this wonderful young talent.