Derby’s Anya and Wednesday’s Fernando Forestieri were teammates at Watford.
Ikechi Anya (left)
New Derby County signing Ikechi Anya has labelled Fernando Forestieri a ‘superstar’ after the Sheffield Wednesday striker messaged him on Twitter.
The pair were teammates for three seasons at Watford, from whom Derby acquired Anya on deadline day for a reported £3.5 million fee.
And Forestieri, who left Vicarage Road for Wednesday in last summer’s window, was quick to congratulate the Scotland international – a fluent Spanish speaker from his time at Sevilla among other clubs – in his own mother tongue.
Fernando Forestieri (right)
“Super Ike!” he wrote. “Best of luck, you deserve it. Big hugs, friend.”
Anya replied: “Thank you very much, Crack (a common Spanish noun). I knew you were a superstar and now everyone knows. Keep it up. I’ll see you around.”
Forestieri ended his first season at Hillsborough as Wednesday’s top scorer, but was unable to deliver promotion despite steering his teammates to a play-off final at Wembley.
Forestieri (right) is consoled by Kieran Lee at Wembley
However, the Argentinian-born Italian blotted his copybook by refusing to travel for the Owls’ 0-0 draw at Norwich City last month, days after reports of interest from Derby emerged in the Daily Mirror.
Forestieri later issued an official apology for his actions and has started each of his side’s last two league matches.
The 26-year-old recently reunited with two more of Watford’s 2015 promotion heroes, Almen Abdi and Daniel Pudil, at Wednesday.
Almen Abdi (centre) celebrates with Anya (left) and Mario Suarez
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