According to reports coming initially via Portuguese source Record, Nottingham Forest are ready to strengthen their defensive ranks with former Leeds United transfer interest Tobias Figuieredo.
Record report that Figueiredo’s impending arrival at the City Ground will be a part of “the process of strengthening Nottingham Forest” and that his club, Sporting, “is finalizing a deal with the Championship’s 14th side.”
Record say that Nottingham Forest will bring the Under-21 Portugal defender in on loan, an exchange that “will include a mandatory purchase option of 2.3 million euros,” or just a shade over £2 million. However, despite a mandatory option for Forest to buy at that price at the expiration of the loan deal, Sporting would still have “the right of preference” over the central defender should they wish to keep him.
With being on the edge of bringing in Figueiredo, Forest will be bringing in a player who was linked heavily to Leeds United in early December of last year. Desporto ao Minuto said at the time that Leeds probed the possibility of bringing in defender Tobias Figueiredo, a 23-year-old centre-back struggling to break through into the ranks at Jorge Jesus’ Liga NOS side.
The Portuguese publication cited sport daily A Bola who added a degree of certainty to this story saying that a “formal approach” had been made to Sporting, an approach that was “more specifically Leeds United.”
However, it seems that Leeds United’s interest in the young Portuguese defender had waned somewhat, and that the Whites loss has likely left the Reds feeling in the pink at his arrival, an arrival confirmed by Forest (below).
✍️ #NFFC are delighted to announce the signing of defender Tobias Figueiredo on loan from @Sporting_CP.
➡️ https://t.co/xt6Vadute2 pic.twitter.com/xYr2JgDIJZ
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) January 30, 2018
Speaking to the club website on his loan signing, Figueiredo said: “I am very happy to be here. This is a big step forward in my career and I am ready to get going here at Nottingham Forest.I am a defender that is strong in the air, it is one of my best attributes but I can also read the game well. I feel that I am strong, brave and passionate and I am excited to get started.”
