Nottingham Forest And Sunderland Now Joined By Sassuolo In Defender Interest | OneFootball

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Nottingham Forest and Sunderland face competition to land target Saba Goglichidze from Italian Serie A outfit Sassuolo.

The 21-year-old centre-back from Empoli has caught the attention of several European outfits with his performances in his debut season for the Italian club.

In the Premier League, Goglichidze has garnered suitors in the form of Nottingham Forest and newly promoted Sunderland.

Sunderland, with their activity in the ongoing window so far, have signalled that they mean business and they will not leave any stone unturned to create a squad that gives them the best chance to stay up.

A defender is on Regis Le Bris’ mind and Sunderland have been widely linked with Empoli star Goglichidze as an option.

At the age of 21, he would fit into the age profile Sunderland have been chasing this summer.

However, they will face competition from Nottingham Forest, who are back in Europe and, under Nuno Espirito Santo’s leadership, are keen to perform well in the Conference League.

The young defender has admirers in Italy also in the form of Udinese and a new competition has arrived for Forest and Sunderland as Sassuolo are now showing interest in Goglichidze, according to Italian journalist Nicolo Schira.

Sassuolo secured promotion to Serie A last season and they are keen to add players who they deem will be able to keep them up.

It has been suggested that Nottingham Forest are willing to pay €8m for Goglichidze, but Empoli have set a €10m price tag on his head, which fellow suitors Udinese deem too high.

Empoli suffered relegation last season and that means he has been widely tipped to move on in the ongoing summer transfer window.

They do not though appear in any mood to cut the defender’s price tag and it is unclear if Sassuolo will be able and willing to meet it.

If Nottingham Forest and Sunderland step up their interest, they are likely to have much greater financial firepower than the player’s Italian suitors.