Marseille are now closing in on the signing of Quentin Merlin from Nantes, seemingly ending their pursuit of Arsenal’s Nuno Tavares.

Arsenal and Marseille have been in talks over the permanent transfer of Nuno Tavares in recent days, but it seems the Ligue 1 club are now set to complete a deal for an alternative left-back signing.

Sebastien Denis fra FootMercato rapporterer, at Quentin Merlin vil skifte til Marseille fra Nantes, efter at de to klubber har nået enighed.

Merlin har haft en aftale om personlige vilkår på plads i flere dage, men aftalen så ud til at stagnere på grund af club-to-club vilkår.

That is no longer the case, and Merlin is planning to go to Marseille today for a medical examination ahead of a move worth €12m (£10.2m).

When it looked like the Merlin deal might not go through, Marseille briefly turned to Arsenal’s Tavares as an alternative.

 

Charles Watts reported earlier this week that the two clubs were in talks over a move, and it was only loan club Nottingham Forest getting in the way.

Arsenal don’t have a recall clause in Tavares’ contract, and Forest weren’t keen to let the player go, complicating the situation.

RMC Sport reported earlier this week that Tavares himself was keen to return to Marseille, following his loan spell with the club last season.

The delays from Forest’s end seem to have killed the deal, with Marseille able to finalise their move for Merlin instead.

Up until a few weeks ago, you would’ve thought that Forest would be happy to let Tavares go.

The defender didn’t even make it into their squad for a month and a half, despite being fit to play.

But Nuno Espirito Santo’s appointment has changed that, and the Arsenal loanee played 90 minutes of a Premier League fixture against Brentford over the weekend.