Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is reportedly looking at ways of moving duo Joao Carvalho and Hilal Soudani to Olympiacos this summer.
According to the Sun, the shipping magnate is keen to use the pair, along with some Forest ‘fringe players’, to both bolster Olympiacos’ squad ahead of next season and provide Martin O’Neill with the funds to make the the Reds promotion contenders.
The Greek giants are looking to regain the league title next season after two years without silverware, and Marinakis will be keen to ensure the club’s dry spell does not last.
On Saturday, Soudani, who only joined the Reds last summer from Dinamo Zagreb, was linked with a move to Greece by the Greek Media just days after the same outlet reported that Carvalho would also be heading there.
The report (9/6; page 61) claims that Carvalho could earn Forest £15 million, and Soudani could be amongst the fringe players to make the move during the coming months.
Carvalho showed glimpses of his outstanding quality during his first year with Forest. O’Neill appeared reluctant to start the Portuguese following his appointment – much to the frustration of supporters – but showed more faith in the 22-year-old in the final weeks of the season, and he proved himself by ending the campaign with eight assists.
Soudani was barely seen this past season, making just one start and appearing another five times from the bench in the Championship. He did score twice.
While Soudani’s departure may not hurt Forest, Carvalho looks to be the kind of player that could be devastating if he is given a proper chance to be the side’s talisman.
And if he does leave and hand O’Neill’s transfer kitty a £15 million boost, the Forest boss will arguably be under a fair amount of pressure to make the right moves in the market to make up for his departure.
