Nottingham Forest have announced the signing of Nuno Tavares on loan from Arsenal for the season, with the club also confirming there are “future options” in the deal.
Tavares is set to wear the number three with Forest, and he seemed pleased to get the deal done.
“I’m really happy to be here,” Tavares said. “Forest is an historic club which won two European Cups and to be part of it makes me really happy.
“I’m really happy to stay in the Premier League as it’s the best league in the world and I’m thankful to Forest for giving me that opportunity.”
Fabrizio Romano reports that Forest are paying Arsenal a £1m loan fee, with a £12m option to buy in the deal and an additional £3m in add-ons.
That buy option isn’t mandatory, but it could become mandatory if certain conditions are met during the loan.
Those conditions haven’t been confirmed, but it’s probably safe to assume they include things like avoiding relegation and playing a certain number of matches.
If Tavares ends up completing the permanent transfer and meeting the requirements for the add-on payments, the deal would be worth £16m in total, which seems like a good price for the defender.
Arsenal signed Tavares for less than £7m from Benfica, so £16m would represent a significant profit. That also doesn’t include the money Marseille gave Arsenal for their own loan fee last season.
Arsenal and Forest will both hope that Tavares impresses on his loan spell before making the move permanent and starting a new chapter with the club.