Lazio president says they wouldn’t sell Arsenal loanee for €70m | OneFootball

Lazio president Lotito has told the media he wouldn’t sell Nuno Tavares for €70m next summer, when the player is set to join permanently from Arsenal.

ROME, ITALY: Nuno Tavares of SS Lazio in action during the Serie A match between SS Lazio and Genoa at Stadio Olimpico on October 27, 2024. (Photo by Marco Rosi – SS Lazio/Getty Images)

Nuno Tavares is currently only on loan with Lazio, but his deal contains an obligation to buy. The clause depends on certain sporting conditions being met, most likely relating to his number of appearances.

Lazio president Lotito spoke to the media this week about the left-back, and there seemed to be no doubt that the club intend to make the move permanent.

“I won’t sell him even for €70m,” Lotito said. “We have fought off a lot of competition from big clubs for the full-back.”

TURIN, ITALY: Nuno Tavares of SS Lazio compete for the ball with Borna Sosa of Torino FC during the Serie match between Torino and Lazio at Stadio Olimpico di Torino on September 29, 2024. (Photo by Marco Rosi – SS Lazio/Getty Images)

In many ways, this is good news for Arsenal. The Gunners will receive their fee of €9m (£7.6m) when the move becomes permanent, and if any club is ever willing to pay Lotito’s high asking price, Arsenal will profit again.

As part of Tavares’ transfer, he has a sell-on clause reportedly worth more than 25% of a future fee. He’ll be on a deal until June 2029, so there’ll be plenty of time for Lazio to sell him and activate that clause.

On the other hand, perhaps Edu Gaspar and co. might now be feeling that they could have brought in a little more for Tavares to begin with. The Lazio president clearly believes they got a great deal.

ROME, ITALY: Nuno Tavares of SS Lazio in action during the Serie A match between SS Lazio and AC Milan at Stadio Olimpico on August 31, 2024. (Photo by Paolo Bruno/Getty Images)

Tavares has made a fast start to the 2024/25 campaign in Serie A, and he underlined it again with two assists against Genoa over the weekend.

The assists helped to secure Lazio a 3-0 win, leaving the team sixth in the Serie A table. But on an individual note, that game left Tavares on a total of seven assists for the season so far.

No player in Europe’s top-five leagues has more assists than that in 2024/25. Only one player can even match Tavares’ total, and it’s fellow Gunner Bukayo Saka.