TalkSport man Alex Crook has claimed that Nottingham Forest are close to completing a deal for Brazilian midfielder Danilo.
According to Sky Sports, Steve Cooper’s side was looking to bring in the Palmeiras midfielder last summer, but the player opted to stay in Brazil as talks stalled.
90min recently reported that the Premier League side is back in for the player and the Reds are close to finalising a deal for Danilo.
The 21-year-old usually operates as a defensive midfielder, while he’s scored 12 goals in 141 matches across all competitions.
Speaking on TalkSport, Crook has revealed what he has been ‘told’ about a potential deal between the two clubs.
He stated: “This is a player that Arsenal were quite keen to sign in the summer; it looks like he could be on his way to Nottingham Forest.
“He’s a Brazilian midfielder, £18m the fee I was told last night, that one is getting close to fruition.”
The Verdict: More signings could cause long-term issues
Forest brought in a wealth of players in the summer window, signing 22 new additions – 19 of them featuring this season. At the start of December, they signed another player in Gustavo Scarpa, bringing the tally up to 23.
It’s all well and good using the money gained from the play-off final victory and spending it to improve your team, but 23 signings in the space of six months or so represents an incredible amount of change. So far, it hasn’t paid off with Forest fighting for Premier League survival.
Danilo certainly looks like an exciting talent with a lot of promise, but it’s a lot to ask for a 21-year-old who’s never played in England’s top flight to dig you out.
Should Cooper’s side face relegation, this could be a big issue financially with a number of players on high salaries, so it could make them harder to sell next season. It could result in Forest getting much smaller fees should they once again have Championship status.