Arsenal have finally announced their first senior signing of the summer

As we’d already heard, Tavares held his physical tests and medical examinations in Lisbon before travelling to England. He was then forced to quarantine for five days upon arrival in London, at which point he could be released with a negative Covid test.

Watts adds that Arsenal are hoping to get everything done with his signing in time for him to join next week’s training camp in Scotland.

A Bola reported last week that Mikel Arteta has already welcomed the player to Arsenal, speaking to him on the phone after the transfer was agreed. But they’ll now get the chance to meet up in person, along with the rest of Tavares’ new teammates.

Tavares will join for €8m plus €2m in add-ons, and he’s expected to act as a backup left-back to Kieran Tierney when Sead Kolasinac leaves. He’ll join on a four-year deal with a club option for an additional 12 months.

Reports suggest Tavares’ add-ons are based on making a certain number of appearances for Arsenal, receiving a senior Portugal cap and the Gunners qualifying for the Champions League. And now Arsenal have finally announced their first senior signing of the summer, with the confirmation on the official Arsenal website that Nuno Tavares is now a Gunner.

The Gunners Technical director Edu said: “Nuno is a talented young player who was wanted by a number of clubs across Europe. He will provide strong back-up in the left-back position. We look forward to him growing and developing with us and becoming an important member of the first-team squad.”

So Edu has confirmed that Nuno will start off as a backup to Kieran Tierney, but with the Scotsman’s tendency towards being injury prone, Tavares could get a lot more game time that he expects.

The player himself has admitted that he had dreams about playing for us, and also praised Edu and Arteta for making him feel wanted. He said on Arsenal.com: “When I finished the season my agent told me that Arsenal were interested in me. In the first instance I was very happy and after this I dreamed about it, and [spoke about it] with my mum. I was so excited to be here, and now I’m here I’m so happy.