Nuno Tavares
Portuguese footballer (born 2000)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nuno Albertino Varela Tavares (European Portuguese: [ˈnunu taˈvaɾɨʃ];[3] born 26 January 2000) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Serie A club Lazio and the Portugal national team.
|
Tavares with Benfica in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nuno Albertino Varela Tavares[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 26 January 2000[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Lisbon, Portugal[2] | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||
| Position | Left-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Lazio | ||
| Number | 17 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2009–2010 | Casa Pia | ||
| 2010–2013 | Sporting CP | ||
| 2013–2015 | Casa Pia | ||
| 2015–2018 | Benfica | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2018–2019 | Benfica B | 19 | (0) |
| 2019–2021 | Benfica | 25 | (1) |
| 2021–2025 | Arsenal | 22 | (1) |
| 2022–2023 | → Marseille (loan) | 31 | (6) |
| 2023–2024 | → Nottingham Forest (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| 2024–2025 | → Lazio (loan) | 23 | (0) |
| 2025– | Lazio | 21 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2018 | Portugal U18 | 8 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Portugal U19 | 14 | (1) |
| 2019–2023 | Portugal U21 | 16 | (1) |
| 2024– | Portugal | 3 | (0) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 23:40, 27 April 2026 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 20:42, 14 October 2025 (UTC) | |||
Club career
Benfica
Born in Lisbon of Cape Verdean descent, Tavares finished his development with Benfica after three years at city rivals Sporting CP and two stints with Casa Pia.[4][5][6] His manager at Casa Pia, João Silva, drove him home from training every day while also allowing his studies to take priority.[7]
Tavares made his senior debut with Benfica's reserves in the LigaPro, his first match being a 3–2 home win against Covilhã on 27 October 2018.[8] He played his first official game with the first team on 4 August 2019, featuring 90 minutes in the 5–0 victory over Sporting in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira at the Estádio Algarve.[9] His Primeira Liga bow took place the following week, opening an eventual 5–0 home defeat of Paços de Ferreira and adding two assists.[10] However, his weaknesses were exposed two weeks later in a 2–0 loss to Porto in O Clássico, which led him to return to the B side and lose his place to Tomás Tavares, being limited to occasional domestic cup matches in place of Alejandro Grimaldo.[7]
Following a difficult season, and a video posted on the Instagram account of a friend of Tavares where Grimaldo was referred to in derogatory terms, Benfica decided to sell the player in spite of his public apologies.[7] During his spell at the club, he made 41 competitive appearances.[11]
Arsenal
On 10 July 2021, Tavares joined Arsenal on a long-term contract in a deal worth around £8 million.[12][13] He made his Premier League debut on 13 August, coming on as a late substitute for Calum Chambers in a 2–0 away defeat to Brentford.[14] Following an injury to Kieran Tierney he managed to earn a starting spot, initially achieving good performances and earning praise from coach Mikel Arteta, who especially liked his attacking qualities; however, he also struggled with homesickness, and his defensive frailties, positional mistakes and lapses in concentration led to him being regularly substituted during matches, most notably when he gifted a goal to Diogo Jota in the 4–0 defeat to Liverpool following a misplaced pass.[15][16][17]
Tavares scored his first goal on 23 April 2022, through a calm tap-in after David de Gea had saved Bukayo Saka's curl in the third minute of an eventual 3–1 home win against Manchester United.[18]
Loans
On 30 July 2022, Tavares moved to Ligue 1 club Marseille on a season-long loan;[19] he wanted to have the option to sign permanently at the end of the deal, but Arteta refused to sanction it.[20] He scored on his debut, a 4–1 home victory over Reims.[21] He repeated the feat the following matchday, in the 1–1 draw at Brest.[22]
Tavares improved his form under manager Igor Tudor, with his attacking style being put to good use in the latter's system.[23][24] On 2 January 2023, however, in the last minutes of a 2–1 away defeat of Montpellier – he had opened the score at the start of the second half – he gave away a penalty after deliberately kicking Arnaud Souquet in the box and was consequently sent off,[25] being handed a three-match ban for his actions two days later.[26]
On 1 September 2023, Tavares joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the season with a £12 million option to buy.[27] Even though he featured more after his compatriot Nuno Espírito Santo replaced Steve Cooper on the bench in December, he totalled only 12 appearances.[28][29]
Forest did not eventually activate the purchase clause.[30][31]
Lazio
On 15 July 2024, Tavares was loaned to Lazio for the 2024–25 campaign with an obligation to buy if certain conditions were met.[32][31] Early into his spell, he created eight goals from nine league appearances, and he provided five assists in the first five.[33][34]
Tavares joined the Serie A club on a permanent basis on 5 June 2025.[35]
International career
Tavares won his first cap for Portugal at under-21 level on 10 September 2019, in a 2–0 win in Belarus for the 2021 UEFA European Championship qualifiers.[36] On 7 October 2021, against Liechtenstein in the next edition, he scored the first goal in the 11–0 rout in Vizela.[37]
Tavares was included in a provisional squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,[38] but did not make the final cut.[39] Courtesy of his Lazio performances,[40] he made his full debut on 15 November 2024, replacing Nuno Mendes late into the 5–1 home victory over Poland in the UEFA Nations League.[41][42]
Media
Tavares was involved in the Amazon Original sports docuseries All or Nothing: Arsenal, which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season.[43][44]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 27 April 2026
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Benfica B | 2018–19[45] | Liga Portugal 2 | 12 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 12 | 0 | ||||
| 2019–20[45] | Liga Portugal 2 | 7 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 7 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 19 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 19 | 0 | ||||||
| Benfica | 2019–20[45] | Primeira Liga | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 2020–21[45] | Primeira Liga | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5[d] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 25 | 0 | |
| Total | 25 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 1 | ||
| Arsenal | 2021–22[46] | Premier League | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 1 | ||
| Marseille (loan) | 2022–23[45] | Ligue 1 | 31 | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | 6[e] | 0 | — | 39 | 6 | ||
| Nottingham Forest (loan) | 2023–24[47] | Premier League | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 12 | 0 | |||
| Lazio (loan) | 2024–25[45] | Serie A | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 6[d] | 0 | — | 30 | 0 | ||
| Lazio | 2025–26[45] | Serie A | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — | 25 | 0 | |||
| Lazio total | 44 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 6 | 0 | — | 55 | 0 | ||||
| Career total | 149 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 194 | 8 | ||
- Includes Taça de Portugal, FA Cup, Coupe de France, Coppa Italia
- Includes Taça da Liga, EFL Cup
- Appearance in Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
- Appearances in UEFA Europa League
- Appearances in UEFA Champions League
International
- As of match played 14 October 2025[48]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | 2024 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 3 | 0 | |
Honours
Benfica
