’s decision to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko forced the club to find a ‘solution’ for Nuno Tavarez, revealed Mikel Arteta after his side crushed Sevilla 6-0 in their final friendly.
The Gunners claimed the Emirates Cup after demolishing their Spanish opponents with Gabriel Jesus helping himself to a hat-trick on his home debut.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, who also joined Arsenal from this summer, excelled at left-back on his first appearance at his new home and looks nailed on to start in that position, regardless Kieran Tierney’s injury struggles , at in Friday’s Premier League opener.
With Scotland international Tierney nearing a return to full fitness, Arsenal boast two high quality players in a position Tavares struggled to make his own during an erratic debut campaign following his move from Benfica last summer.
The Portugal Under-21 international will spend next season on loan at Marseille and Arteta is confident the move will prove both productive for the player and his parent club.
‘It’s announced it’s official and for Nuno’s development I think it’s going to be really important,’ said Arteta in his post match press conference.
‘Obviously we have recruited Oleks in that position and we have Kieran as well which is two really really good and strong players in that position.
‘We believe Nuno’s best solution was to do that.’
Arsenal have invested heavily this summer in a squad that failed to last the pace and ran out of steam back in May and Arteta still hopes to add more new faces before the transfer window closes.
He said: ‘We are still hoping to do something else if the market allows us to do that.
‘As well you have seen some movement in the other direction the last few days so we just want to get the perfect balance we wanted right from the beginning.
‘Whether we can accomplish that is another story but I am happy with where we are now.’
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