Nottingham Forest are now keen to sign Benfica midfielder . The Reds are stepping up their efforts to land a defensive midfielder before the transfer window closes next month.
According to Sport Italia, the Reds are now holding a strong interest in the player. At this stage, it’s now clear whether or not the Portuguese giants are willing to offload him
Signing Florentino is unlikely to be easy. He has a contract with Benfica until 2027 and at 23-years-old he still has bags of unearthed potential.
Still, Benfica will be at the mercy of clubs playing in bigger European leagues than the one they feature in. This month, it’s also been claimed that Liverpool might take a look at Florentino after missing out on Moises Caicedo.
Forest target Florentino has been with Benfica his entire career. He rose through the youth ranks with his current club and has spent time on loan with Monaco and Getafe.
The defence-minded midfielder doesn’t look to be in the club’s plans this season. In their opening game of the campaign against Boavista, he played for just six minutes from the bench.
Florentino does have quite a bit of experience to his name. He’s made 88 appearances for Benfica during his career and during 2022/23, played 24 times for Getafe in La Liga.
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One of Florentino’s coaches of old at Benfica Joao Tralhao, previously raved about the player. He called him ‘amazing’ and compared him to some of the best defensive midfielders in the world.
It’s also been claimed in the past that he’s good enough to play for Real Madrid. Tralhao made that particular claim when he appeared on TalkSPORT in February.
The challenge for Forest when it comes to signing Florentino could be his transfer fee. Benfica will likely want a huge sum and it will largely depend on whether the Reds have the resources.
Florentino might fancy a move if he’s not going to be considered the first choice with his current club. Given that Forest only stayed up by four points last season, however, he might need some convincing.
Rumour rating: 7/10 – The only reason we’ve gone lower than an 8/10 on this one is the scepticism over whether or not Florentino would fancy a move to Forest.
If he does, the Reds could be getting themselves an exceptionally talented player. At 23, the midfielder will still improve and there is a lot to like about the player who has previously made 12 appearances for the Portugal under-21 outfit.
