Just a few months after Arsenal signing him, Nuno Tavares is already reportedly being eyed up by Manchester City for a potential transfer.

ESPN report that Manchester City are trying to strengthen their squad at left-back, and they’ve been watching Nuno Tavares as a possible signing.

City are unlikely to make a move in the January transfer window. Pep Guardiola has been assured his squad won’t be weakened in January, but there’s not much suggestion it will be significantly strengthened either.

Still, Tavares remains a ‘player of interest’ in Manchester. With Benjamin Mendy suspended by the club, City have had to use the excellent Joao Cancelo out of position on the left.

That hasn’t particularly been a problem for them, but they’d obviously rather have natural left-backs available.

Tavares has obviously done pretty well for Arsenal so far, barring one or two individual errors that you’d probably expect from a player of his age and inexperience.

The fact the summer signing managed to displace Kieran Tierney so quickly was certainly noteworthy. It seems the two of them are now locked in a battle for one spot in the team, which certainly suits Arsenal.

It’s nonetheless surprising to see transfer exit links cropping up so soon.

You’d hope Arsenal would expect to hang onto the player for at least a couple of seasons after making the effort to bring him in, if not much longer.

Otherwise, it’ll be back to the market to find another backup left-back, not necessarily an easy task.