Serie A centre-back Merih Demiral rejected a potential £25 million move to Nottingham Forest because he wanted to join Inter Milan instead of the Premier League outfit, according to Tuttomercatoweb.
It’s testament to the pulling power and the fearsome financial might of the Premier League that the likes of Nottingham Forest and AFC Bournemouth – in their first seasons back in the big-time – can go head-to-head with some of Europe’s most historic clubs in the transfer market, and dream of coming out on top.
Bournemouth tried and ultimately failed to snatch Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo from under AC Milan’s nose, before settling on the £26 million former Sassuolo attacker Hamed Traore.
Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, were hoping to make Demiral their second-most expensive signing of all time. Atalanta’s Turkey international would have joined on loan, with a £25 million obligation-to-buy clause in his City Ground contract.
Forest have only ever spent more on one player over the last 158 years; the eye-wateringly expensive but increasingly-influential Morgan Gibbs-White.
Nottingham Forest wanted Merih Demiral from Atalanta
But while Steve Cooper’s play-off winners have signed their fair share of big names of late – Jesse Lingard, Remo Freuler, Felipe and three-time Champions League winner Keylor Navas, for instance – Demiral wasted no time in rebuffing Forest’s advances.
TMW believe that Demiral ‘didn’t think too much’ about joining the EFL Cup semi-finalists. He rejected their offer, in the hope that 2021 Serie A champions Inter Milan would come calling instead.
They didn’t, of course. Inter’s refusal to let Milan Skriniar join Paris Saint-Germain meant Demiral was not required at the San Siro after all. Well, not yet anyway.
With Skriniar’s contract expiring in July, don’t be surprised to see Demiral get his dream move sooner rather than later.
“At the moment, no (he won’t sign a new deal). That is not a possibility,” Skriniar’s agent tells Telenord. “Yes (we are in talks with PSG). But also with other clubs outside of Italy.”
Forest, meanwhile, need a miracle to overcome Manchester United and set up an EFL Cup final with Newcastle. The two-time European champions lost the first leg 3-0 at the City Ground.
Felipe, Navas and Jonjo Shelvey, meanwhile, will have to wait until next weekend to make their debuts.
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