Nottingham Forest were thwarted in their attempts to bring former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos back to the Premier League with Bundesliga strugglers Stuttgart rejecting their £17 million January bid, according to Kicker.
Steve Cooper must have been wondering exactly what he did to upset Lady Luck. The Forest boss had already lost Guiliano Biancone and Moussa Niakhate to long-term injuries and, to make matters worse, both Willy Boly and Scott McKenna pulled up during the recent 2-0 defeat to Fulham.
Never before in Premier League history had a club subbed two players during the opening seven minutes. It’s testament to just how much misfortune Forest have had to face in the defensive department that, despite spending over £100 million on over 30 new players since promotion, Cooper still finds himself relatively light at the back.
The arrival of Felipe from Atletico Madrid at least offsets these absences. The 2021 La Liga winner was not the only centre-half on Nottingham Forest’s winter wishlist, however, Merih Demiral rejecting the two-time European champions in favour of fighting for his place at Atalanta.
Stuttgart, meanwhile, turned down a £17 million bid for Mavropanos. The Athens-born Greece international has blossomed post-Arsenal, and is now one of the first names on Stuttgart’s team sheet. Mavropanos is a semi-regular source of goals too; popping up with seven since the start of last season.
Nottingham Forest like former Arsenal man Mavropanos
According to Kicker, the looming threat of relegation had Stuttgart batting away offers for not only Mavropanos but also assist-machine Borna Sosa and Japanese forward Junya Ito.
The 25-year-old colossus, who left Arsenal for just £3 million, is integral to Stuttgart’s hopes of avoiding the drop. Mavropanos, a powerful yet technically-astute central defender who loves to make marauding runs from deep, was even tipped by Ballon D’Or winner Lothar Mathaus to join Bayern Munich not so long ago, such has been his impressive form in Gemany.
“There are some very interesting players in the Bundesliga,” Matthaus told Sky.
“I think Stuttgart’s Mavropanos, Leipzig’s (Josko) Gvardiol or Bochum’s Armel Bella-Kotchap (now of Southampton) would be good options for Bayern.”
Leeds United, per BILD’s Christian Falk, also tried to sign Mavropanos in January and will keep tabs on Stuttgart’s situation as they weigh up whether or not to renew their interest in the summer. Expect Nottingham Forest to take a similar stance. Especially if Cooper cannot vanquish that defensive-injury curse.
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