Marseille have been exploring the possibility of signing Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares since the beginning of the summer window.
They are now stepping up their interest to seal a deal for the player, according to Fabrizio Romano.
It looked like Atalanta had stolen a march on the Tavares deal, but the move collapsed. Marseille have now reopened talks for the former Benfica man.
Tavares has fallen further down the pecking order following the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko and will be heading elsewhere to search for game time.
Despite arriving last summer for £7 million, the Gunners are trying to move him on.
Arsenal have made some impressive signings this summer. Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus, Matt Turner, Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira – but they need to shed some weight.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta recently mentioned the size of the squad in a press conference.
“We have a large squad, so we have to make some decisions as well on the players that we’re not going to be using consistently and be fair and straight with them, and that’s a process that is going to start very soon as well,” he said (via football.london).
“We have to (offload). We have a big squad, and now we have to make things happen.”
Tavares is one of the players looking to leave, and Marseille could offer him a sweet landing spot.
Marseille sporting director Pablo Longoria has been a busy man this summer.
The club has brought in Matteo Guendouzi, Luis Suarez, Pau Lopez, Cengiz Under, Arkadiusz Milik, Isak Toure, Chancel Mbemba, Jonathan Clauss and Ruben Blanco.
Ex-Arsenal left-back Sead Kolasinac is on Marseille’s books, but he failed to seal his spot in the team following sketchy performances. Their only other option is Jordan Amavi, who spent last season on loan at Nice.
A promising attacking full-back like Tavares would give Marseille the opportunity to accomplish their three-at-the-back formation.
