Nottingham Forest have confirmed the signing of midfielder Panatiotis Tachtsidis. He most recently played for Greek giants Olympiacos, but had been a free agent. He has penned a contract until the end of the 2019/20 campaign.
The club had been touted with a move for Tachtsidis for a number of days now, and the transfer is now finally concluded. There was no pressure to complete it before the transfer deadline given he was without a club. He is added to Aitor Karanka’s squad, into a position which ironically probably didn’t need any extra body in.
It would be fair to say that Tachtsidis has something of a footballing journeyman tag attached to him given the fact he has played for ten clubs prior to this latest venture. His career itself has lasted a little bit longer than that! Still, he certainly provides experience and even played in the UEFA Champions League last season, including an appearance against Barcelona. He also has 25 caps for the Greek national team.
Clearly there is a Greek connection at Nottingham Forest and transfers in recent years have highlighted this. Apostolos Vellios, Stefano Kapino and Andreas Bouchalakis all joined in the last few seasons but failed to make any serious impact. Rafik Djebbour and Djamel Abdoun are others.
Tachtsidis is a central midfield player that fits into the box-to-box category. Ben Watson and Jack Colback have the shirts at present, but Adlene Guedioura would have one of those if not for injury. Liam Bridcutt is clearly a strong option too, whilst Ben Osborn can also do a job here. Ryan Yates cannot get a look-in at present but Karanka still believes there is a talent there.
