Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Wilmar Barrios has admitted that Nottingham Forest are attempting to bring him to the Premier League before the window closes.
Unfortunately for Steve Cooper and co, the player himself does not seem a keen on them as they are on him.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Nottingham Forest submitted a £43 million bid for Wilmar Barrios a couple of weeks ago. There remains a sizeable gap between the fee Forest are willing to pay and the fee Zenit want, however; the Russian Premier League champions holding out for closer to £43 million.
And even if Forest did submit an offer Zenit consider acceptable, attempting to agree terms with Barrios’ camp would provide an all-new set of challenges.
Nottingham Forest face Wilmar Barrios frustration
“Conversations from outside are normal. I defend the colours of this jersey in every match,” Barrios tells Russian website Meta Ratings. “Yes, I have an offer from Nottingham Forest.
But I am one hundred percent focused on Zenit.”
Nottingham Forest also appear to have hit a brick wall in their pursuit of PSV Eindhoven enforcer Ibrahim Sangare and Tottenham Hotspur misfit Tanguy Ndombele. The two-time European champions have reportedly submitted offers in the region of £30 million for Benfica’s Florentino Luis and Monaco’s Youssouf Fofana too.
They appear no closer to landing the powerful, athletic midfielder Cooper is looking for, however; the window shutting on September 1st.
Forest do, at least, have a deal in place with Sevilla for Gonzalo Montiel.
According to the Daily Mail, the World Cup winning right-back will join for around £20.5 million. Montiel was left out of Sevilla’s squad for Monday’s 4-3 defeat against newly-promoted Deportivo Alaves.
It remains to be seen, meanwhile, if they will launch another attempt for Barrios, Sangare, Florentino or Fofana in the coming days.
Barrios, who turns 29 in October, has over 50 caps for the Colombian national team. He also has five Russian Premier League titles from his time in St Petersburg.
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