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Arsenal star 'annoying club staff' with Arteta to get ruthless after scaring dressing room
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has shown that he will not tolerate any disruptive influences at the club and may have to deal with another issue.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reviews the West Ham game
Mikel Arteta has had to show his tough side in eradicating bad influences from the Arsenal dressing room in the past and it appears he may have his work cut out again this summer when Nuno Tavares returns. The Portuguese full-back has spent the season on loan with Ligue 1 outfit Marseille, but the defneder faces an uncertain future after his temporary stint in France took a turn amid reported concerns over his attitude.
The 22-year-old opted to leave for regular first-team football when the Gunners signed Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City last summer and joined Marseille on loan with Ligue 1 seen as the ideal destination for him to become equipped to a higher standard of football than in Portugal.
Arteta probably felt that Tavares could not only gain some much-needed first-team experience but that he could doing with maturing a little after a mixed first season in England.
The £8.5million signing from Benfica has made little progress with mentality, however, and is expected to return to the club this summer with Marseille unlikely to turn his move into a permanent one, according to L'Equipe, via Sport Witness.
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The Portuguese star enjoyed a fine start to his temporary stint in France with three goals in his first four games. However, his form has dipped in the 22 appearances he has made since then and is now only regarded as a rotational option.
It is understood Marseille boss Igor Tudor prefers Issa Kabore - on loan from Manchester City - at right-back and he has therefore shifted Jonathan Clauss to left-back, the spot that was previously occupied by Tavares.
Recent reports about his loan spell in French media have been more negative than positive and it is claimed by the French publication that staff are 'annoyed with his efforts', calling into question his professionalism and attitude after he was kicked out of training earlier this month. With Marseille ready to ship him back to north London, Arteta has a decision to make.
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Tavares experienced difficulties in his first season at Arsenal and was once infamously substituted after just half an hour of action in the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup. A nightmare display against Liverpool also saw him withdrawn and it seems more likely than not that he could depart the Gunners.
The Spaniard has worked tirelessly to create a culture of harmony at the club, rooting out the apparently bad influences after offloading Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi.
Mohamed Elneny gave an insight into how Arteta 'scared' the squad into behaving professionally and eliminating the egos from the dressing room.
“We agree with what Mikel decided because he is our boss and we just have to agree what his vision is for us. I think it unified us because now everyone was scared! Everyone is scared with their position because this happened to Aubameyang," he said in the Amazon All or Nothing documentary.
“We don’t allow big egos. This is the dressing room we have now. Everyone loves each other and everyone works for each other. This is what actually makes our squad really strong, because we don’t have egos in the team."
If Tavares proves to be cut from the same cloth as the other players easily discarded by Arteta, the 41-year-old will have little choice but to put him up for sale unless he improves his attitude.