Football League World
·27 January 2022
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·27 January 2022
Nottingham Forest playmaker João Carvalho will reportedly be in Athens today to have his Olympiacos medical and sign a permanent deal with the Greek club.
The 24-year-old joined the Reds from Benfica for £13.5 million in July 2018 but has fallen out of favour after an impressive first season at the City Ground – spending last season out on loan in LaLiga2 and playing just 237 minutes of Championship football this term.
Carvalho was given opportunities to impress by Steve Cooper in December but it seems his Forest career is set to come to an end before the January window closes.
According to Greek journalist Giannis Chorianopoulos, the Portuguese attacking midfielder is “99.9% an Olympiacos player” and will be in Athens today to complete his medical and sign a permanent deal with the club.
The Super League Greece outfit are also owned by Forest chief Evangelos Marinakis and have been regularly linked with a move for Carvalho.
According to Sun Sport, manager Pedro Martins is now on board with the deal and is said to have given it a green light.
The Verdict
It’s a shame that things haven’t worked out for Carvalho at Forest because he’s clearly a player with a huge amount of quality but has only been able to show that in glimpses in a Garibaldi red shirt.
Though he featured a few times in December, the 24-year-old has looked out of favour at the City Ground for some time now and this is a move that’s needed to happen for a while from the Championship club’s perspective.
It’s unclear at this time what sort of fee Olympiacos are paying but with the playmaker understood to be one of the highest earners at Forest – on £15,000 per week as per Salary Sport – getting his salary off the wage bill permanently is a boost.
It’ll be interesting to see whether his departure allows Dane Murphy to intensify his efforts to sign a new attacking option before the window closes.