Arsenal star tricked into signing petition to ban teammate

Arsenal’s on-loan defender Nuno Tavares appeared to have been tricked into signing a petition to ban his Marseille team mate Leonardo Balerdi.

Tavares signed for the Gunners from Benfica in 2021, originally to provide competition for Kieran Tierney.

However, upon the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko, the 23-year-old was loaned out to Ligue 1 giants Marseille.

Since, Tavares has endured a topsy-turvy season. The full-back has claimed six goals from wing-back, though his defensive work has at times been called into question.

In recent weeks the Portugal under-21 star has struggled against Paris Saint-Germain and Rennes. Moreover, his performance against Strasbourg at the weekend saw Footmercato award him a 1/10 match rating.

Tavares tricked

A video posted by French Football News on Twitter appears to show Tavares being duped into signing a petition to ban centre-back Balerdi from the Marseille team.

The clip, which is captioned “Tavares agrees”, shows the left-back taking pictures and signing autographs for a group of fans, before appearing to inadvertently signing the petition.

Indeed, the Marseille fan behind the petition has gone to extreme lengths to show his dislike for Balerdi.

On Tuesday he turned up outside the Robert Louis-Dreyfus entertainment centre with a cardboard sign displaying the word “out” three times, as well as a phrase that translates to "The people of Marseille don't want you anymore."

In a video posted on Twitter by L'Equipe’s Mathieu Gregoire, staff who work at the training ground appeared completely bemused by the one-man protest.

Balerdi joined Marseille from Borussia Dortmund in 2021, after a successful loan spell the previous season.

He has gone on to make 85 appearances for the club, though it seems that some sections of the Marseille fanbase have lost patience with Argentina international.

The former Boca Junior man received a straight red at the weekend during the club’s 2-2 draw with Strasbourg, for pulling the shirt of an opponent when he was the last man.

Igor Tudor’s side are now 10 points adrift of league leaders PSG after 27 games played.