Nuno Tavares is arriving in Marseille this morning for a medical ahead of a season-long loan move, according to a report.

Fabrizio Romano reports that Marseille have now completed the paperwork for the season-long loan of Nuno Tavares from Arsenal.

Tavares was reportedly set to arrive in Marseille on Friday morning, ahead of medical tests and a contract signing during the day. The loan move lasts until June 2023, with no buy option in the deal, and Marseille will cover his salary.

Charles Watts writes that Arsenal are expecting the loan to go through, medical and final details permitting, whilst Simon Collings also confirms that Tavares is set to join Marseille after earlier interest from Atalanta and Real Sociedad.

It sounds like Arsenal ended up getting what they wanted, with no buy option and no obligation to cover any of Tavares’ salary for the next year.

Marseille had previously held talks over Tavares without success, which initially put Atalanta in the driving seat.

But after a meeting between Atalanta and Arsenal in London, the two clubs failed to reach an agreement. Atalanta wouldn’t accept a straight loan, wanting an option to buy, and they pulled out of the deal as a result.

Marseille then swooped to offer the Gunners the terms they were after.

Arsenal have signed Oleksandr Zinchenko to add to their options at left-back, with Kieran Tierney already at the club.

Tavares made 28 appearances (17 starts) in all competitions in his debut campaign with Arsenal, which isn’t bad, but wasn’t likely to improve with the addition of Zinchenko.

A year away should give Tavares some more stability and an opportunity to show what he can do.