Atalanta have hit a roadblock in the race to sign Nuno Tavares this summer, with Arsenal reluctant to accept the Italian side's latest demand. The 22-year-old defender has been heavily linked with an exit from the Emirates Stadium after falling out of favour under Mikel Arteta.
Tavares, who only arrived in north London 12 months ago from Benfica, started just 13 times for the Gunners in the Premier League last season. And, despite a mixed bag of performances, the former Portugal youth international has courted the attention of several top-flight European clubs - one of whom is Atalanta.
It's said that Gian Piero Gasperini's side have reached an agreement in principle with Tavares' entourage for a loan deal. However, according to Lucas Bendoni of Di Marzio, Atalanta have not yet reached an agreement with Arsenal, with the Gunners eager to welcome the defender back at the end of the season.
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The report claims that the Italian side want to include an option-to-buy in any loan deal but the north Londoners do not, thus stalling any progress of a deal. Arteta spoke to the official Arsenal website in April to explain the withdrawal of Tavares from play at half-time in a clash against Crystal Palace.
Reflecting on £25million-rated defender's debut campaign, the Spaniard said: "Throughout your career you have to go through difficult moments. He’s had some really good periods since he arrived at the club and he was playing many more minutes than he was probably expecting.
"That’s the life of a player, especially at that age. There’s ups and downs and we are here to try and help him and make his career better, and that’s what we’re going to do."
"His confidence probably wasn’t the best because he wasn’t playing a lot of minutes and he needs the rhythm, the competition and the understanding with his teammates," Arteta added. "We have to help him to do that, but at the end of the day, when you’re in a match you have to decide if something can change the game and how can we make it better and on Monday we made that decision."
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