Even in the modern football world of strange, big money transfers, there’s still some that are genuinely odd, and Arvin Appiah’s €9m move from Nottingham Forest to Almeria in 2019.
The 19-year-old is yet to get his career going and eight appearances for Nottingham Forest’s first team, in which he managed one goal, meant the bigger clubs were hardly chasing his signature.
A €9m move to second division Almeria, which made him the most expensive player in the history of the division, was certainly a shock to many when it went through in September 2019.
Still, he was a regular for the Spanish side in his first year, racking up 24 appearances in all competitions and bagging himself one goal in La Liga 2.
This year, though, things have gone differently with him yet to make an appearance for the side, with just two appearances on the bench to his name so far.
And that, according to Diario de Almeria, has led the club to look at a move away for the youngster in January.
They report that his name has been placed ‘on the negotiating table’ due to his ‘lack of adaptation’ in his first year and surgery on an intestinal problem which has ‘slowed his progression’ this year.
The club believe keeping him in the squad without using him would only ‘depreciate’ his value, so it is now ‘100% sure’ that he will ‘exit’ in January.
Now that sounds a little dramatic, but we’re fairly sure they just mean Almeria are willing to let him leave on loan to get regular game time and get his value back on the rise.
Where that will be isn’t mentioned, but it’s undoubtedly going to be a little disappointing for the 19-year-old, who would have envisioned things going a little differently after leaving Nottingham Forest.
