Marinakis suffers double blow as Nottingham Forest lose Albanis race

Follow us on Google Discover

Nottingham Forest were reportedly hoping to give Greek Superleague striker Christos Albanis his chance in the Championship.

Well that did not last long.

According to Greek publication SDNA on Tuesday, Nottingham Forest were keen to sign the Apollon Smyrnis striker Christos Albanis.

It was understood that Forest were willing to trigger his release clause, which stood at a bargain £500,000, and had even offered a salary of around £300,000 a year to tempt him with a move to the City Ground.

Albanis netted eight times in the Greek Superleague across the 2017/18 season, scoring some crucial goals to keep newly-promoted Apollon in the top flight. And Forest must have felt that the 23-year-old would have given them some much needed potency in attack, with none of the club’s strikers hitting double figures in another underwhelming Championship campaign.

But Forest’s hopes of landing Albanis this summer are over already.

As reported by the Nottingham Post, reigning Superleague champions AEK Athens have now won the race for Albanis with Forest’s late attempted swoop looking like a complete waste of time. It is understood that he has signed a three-year deal at AEK.

This comes as a blow for Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and not just because the Championship giants have missed out on a striker.

Beating AEK to the deal would have boosted his other club, Olympiacos, whose seven-year stranglehold on the league title was ended last season. Instead, AEK have strengthened their attack as they aim to defend their crown.