Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Wilmar Barrios has admitted he turned down the chance to join Nottingham Forest in the summer, preferring to stay in Russia than move to the Premier League.
The Colombian has been speaking to Sport Express about the situation at his current club, when the subject of the transfer window and an offer from Nottingham Forest came up.
A recent claim in England made it clear that Forest had submitted a bid in the summer for him as they looked to reshape their squad for a second year in the Premier League.
The centre of midfield was certainly an area they were looking to strengthen, with Steve Cooper and his side bringing in Ibrahim Sangaré and Nicolás Domínguez on permanent deals as well as signing Chelsea youngster Andrey Santos on loan.
It seems; however, he had no interest in making the move to the Premier League, putting Nottingham Forest’s bid at the back of his mind and Zenit at the front of his plans.
“It’s normal that after the transfer window opens, there are a lot of different speculations and rumours. I can say that I immediately gave all the cards to the club,” he said.
“I said that if Zenit receives a favourable offer, he is ready to consider it together with the management. And at some point, I was offered to extend my contract. I didn’t have any questions or problems, so I accepted it instantly.
“Indeed, there were some conversations (with Nottingham Forest), but all this is already a thing of the past. At some point, we sat down to discuss everything with Zenit representatives, and they made me an offer to extend my contract. I happily agreed.”
