Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is seeking to buy a club in Brazil for his growing network, and Vasco da Gama are just one of the options being explored.
That’s according to journalist Jorge Nicola, who has moved to calm any Vasco fans angered by the slow, potential takeover of the club.
The Nottingham Forest owner is believed to be keen to expand his football network, which currently includes the Premier League side, Olympiacos and Rio Ave, to Brazil.
His move to hire Edu Gaspar from Arsenal is a part of this strategy, with the Brazilian key to negotiations in his homeland and seemingly set to lead Marinakis’ group on a leadership role once any takeover is completed.
Vasco appear to be the club that Marinakis has targeted for purchase and his son caused excitement this week when he posted an image on social media that suggested the takeover could be advancing.
This has led Nicola to look into the matter in further detail and he’s now provided information on what’s going on and the role that Edu is playing for the Nottingham Forest owner.
“What I can tell you is that Marinakis, through intermediaries, has already reached Vasco, the information that he intends to talk and open negotiations for the purchase of the club,” he said.
“Edu Gaspar, who is the one who will play this type of negotiation at this moment, is in Saudi Arabia. So, this negotiation should stay for the next few days.
“Another important thing, exclusive information, Evangelos Marinakis and his son were in the middle of the year in Rio de Janeiro, representing and accompanying the sub-20 team of Olympiacos, which lost the Club World Cup final to Flamengo.
“And both left Rio de Janeiro delighted with the city, with the people and with the football spirit that exists in Rio de Janeiro, which only increases this pretension of having a football team in Brazil and, more specifically, in Rio de Janeiro. I repeat, Edu Gaspar is the one who will play these negotiations.
“And Edu had, last season, while still working with Arsenal, mapped eight Brazilian clubs. He had the opportunity and the idea of establishing a relationship between Arsenal and the Brazilian club. This idea ended up not advancing due to the option of Arsenal’s managers.
“I want to tell you that there is a Marinakis negotiation with another team from the Brazilian Championship Serie A. Vasco is not the only one Marinakis talks to.”
