Director says Nottingham Forest beat rival with ‘higher offer

Cagliari sporting director Nereo Bonato was a guest on Radiolina’s Il Cagliari in Diretta.

He’s now explained how Nottingham Forest indirectly handed the Serie A club a transfer blow in the winter market, and his comments are relayed by Fiorentina.it.

The Italian club were keen on signing Fiorentina’s Antonín Barák in the last window and an agreement was reached with both the player and La Viola. Despite this, the operation didn’t take shape because Vincenzo Italiano’s side weren’t able to bring in a replacement.

According to Bonato, Fiorentina were keen on signing the American attacking midfielder and Genoa star Albert Guðmundsson. However, they lost the Dortmund owned player to Nottingham Forest and Genoa refused to let the Iceland international leave in January.

“At club level and with the boy [Barák] himself there were all the agreements. It was an operation that was also suitable on an economic level,” he said.

“There were Guðmundsson and Reyna who were Fiorentina’s two big targets and we had seen in the Viola managers the desire to get there at all costs.

“Unfortunately, Nottingham Forest made a higher offer for Reyna and Genoa preferred to keep Gudmundsson. We had to adapt to these choices.”

Reyna made his Nottingham Forest debut when he came off the bench in his side’s 1-1 draw against AFC Bournemouth last weekend. Having struggled for regular game time at BVB, the 21-year-old will aim to feature regularly for Nuno Espírito Santo’s side.