The agent of Roma defender Roger Ibanez is playing down reports suggesting Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest have made a £22 million bid for his services.
It’s not often Fabrizio Romano gets it wrong.
But while a broken clock tells the right time once in a blue moon, a broken one can also land on the correct minute every so often.
The usually uber-reliable Romano reported on Thursday evening that Nottingham Forest had submitted a £22 million bid for Roger Ibanez; one of the success stories of Jose Mourinho’s Roma tenure, even if he did miss from the spot during last season’s UEFA Europa League final defeat to Sevilla.
Suggestions of a big-money offer from the City Ground are, however, news to Ibanez’s camp.
Nottingham Forest have not made a Roger Ibanez bid yet
“It’s just talk,” agent Lodovico Spinosi tells TAG24, via TMW. “There hasn’t been any offer for the player from the English club. “I have heard rumours of interest, but no concrete action has followed at the moment.
“Ibanez is doing very well at Roma and wants to stay. He feels valued by the coach and his team-mates. He’s in love with the city and the fans, so he wants to continue playing in the Giallorossi shirt.
“He is totally concentrated in training and giving his best for the team.”
Spinosi did go on to say that, if a bid does arrive, ‘we will listen to it’. Though it remains to be seen if Ibanez is willing to swap a Roma side who will be aiming for a Champions League spot next term for a Nottingham Forest side who may spend much of 2023/24 glancing over their shoulder at the relegation zone.
Ibanez, capped twice by Brazil, has also been linked with Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs appear to have turned their attention to Micky Van de Ven of Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Taposba, however, edging ever closer to an agreement with the former while holding talks with the latter.
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