The 23-year-old defender has been a regular starter for the Ligue 1 side making 33 appearances in all competitions so far. However, Marseille manager Igor Tudor was disappointed with Tavares’ behaviour during a squad training session last week and decided to intervene.
Marseille left-back Nuno Tavares was kicked out of training last week for not trying hard enough, according to reports. Tavares was sent to Marseille on a season-long loan during the summer transfer window after failing to cement a place in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team.
The French news outlet also said that Jonathan Clauss was criticised for his lack of effort during Marseille team training session. However, Tavares still started in Marseille’s 1-1 draw against Montpellier on Friday and will most likely feature in their clash against Lorient on April 9.
According to L’Equipe via Goal, Tudor told the Arsenal outcast to return to the changing room because he was furious with the defender’s ‘lack of effort’. Tudor refused to name Tavares when talking about the situation, but L’Equipe identified the 23-year-old as the player he was referring to.
Nevertheless, Tudor made it clear he would not tolerate a lack of effort during training going forwards. The Marseille manager said he is happy for the players to ‘laugh and joke’ as long as they are still working hard.
‘During the hour or so of training, I am demanding, the players have understood it. But if they want rest days, I can give them some too. And we can joke or laugh, but work is work.’ The 23-year-old was an important player for the Gunners last season, appearing 28 times across all competitions under Arteta.
‘In my football, there is a feature, you have to run. And if you don’t… If I see one player that doesn’t run in training, I’ll say it once, twice and then on the third time of asking, I’ll intervene,’ he told L’Equipe.
However, he would have struggled for minutes this season following arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Man City. Therefore, a loan move was best for Tavares – who has scored six league goals since arriving at the Ligue 1 club.
