O'Hara believes Arsenal defender Tavares is not 'good enough'

Jamie O’Hara has claimed that Arsenal defender Nuno Tavares isn’t “good enough” for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners.

The pundit was speaking to Sky Sports – via Football Daily – ahead of Tottenham’s Champions League trip to Marseille.

Tavares joined Arsenal in the summer of 2021 for a reported £8million.

The 22-year-old made 28 appearances for the Gunners last season, including 22 in the Premier League.

However, Tavares struggled at times, prompting Arsenal to sanction a season-long loan switch to Marseille.

The Portugal Under-21 international has made 15 appearances for his loan club, scoring three times in Ligue 1.

Tavares has also played in all five of his current side’s Champions League outings this season.

On Tuesday night, the Arsenal loanee will be one of four Gunners-linked players who could be in action against Spurs.

As well as Tavares, Marseille can call on the services of Alexis Sanchez, Sead Kolasinac and Matteo Guendouzi.

Only Tavares remains on the books at Arsenal, with the other three having since moved on.

And O’Hara believes all four couldn’t quite cut it at the Emirates Stadium, hence them playing for Marseille.

“Look, they played for Arsenal, I get that, and they probably want to try and do Arsenal a favour,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, they were not good enough for Arsenal, they were gone.

“So I don’t know why they care about doing Arsenal any favours, at the end of the day they should be doing a favour for Marseille.

“Marseille can still go through, so this is a massive night for them as well. And them, as players, need to step up.”

Was Saliba ‘not good enough’ for Arsenal?

O’Hara may well have a point about Kolasinac and Guendouzi, who Arteta has offloaded.

However, Sanchez registered 80 goals and 45 assists from 166 Arsenal appearances, so he was obviously good enough.

And Tavares is on loan at Marseille, just like William Saliba was last season.

Saliba went up a few levels at the Stade Velodrome and is now shining in the Premier League.

Although Tavares struggled last season, he’s still young and Arteta clearly sees a lot of potential in him.