This is yet another chapter in the long-running John Textor saga featuring Nottingham Forest and Evangelos Marinakis. And once again it’s incredibly hard to take seriously.
This time, the issue goes beyond background noise. The attempted manoeuvre involving Nottingham Forest is precisely what triggered a legal intervention in Brazil.
After already dealing with a transfer ban, John Textor was formally prevented by a court in Rio de Janeiro from selling players, following concerns over how Botafogo’s finances were being handled. And that ruling landed just as Nottingham Forest emerged as part of a very convenient solution to Textor’s problems.
According to reports in Brazil, before the court stepped in, Textor had been quietly negotiating with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis. The idea was simple enough. Move two key Botafogo players to Nottingham and use the operation to reduce an outstanding debt.
Offloading high-value assets
Those players were Danilo and Álvaro Montoro. Danilo was valued at €19m (£16.2m), while Montoro carried a €14m (£12m) price tag. On the surface, that is a €33m (£28.2m) package. However, the crucial detail sits underneath.
Botafogo still owe Nottingham Forest €20m (£17.1m) from… Danilo’s own transfer! Which was completed in July last year, when the midfielder left the City Ground in a €22m (£18.8m) deal.
In practical terms, this would have meant Nottingham Forest offsetting the debt and Botafogo pocketing roughly €13m (£11m). A neat piece of accounting, if nothing else – even if his total debt at Botafogo is at roughly €241m (£209m).
So Danilo would be heading back to a club he only left months ago, while the Argentine wonderkid was being included despite his status as a regular starter.
The problem is that this plan was reportedly put together without the backing of Botafogo’s wider hierarchy. That internal resistance, combined with the way the talks were conducted, led directly to the court stepping in and freezing any outgoing deals.
This episode simply reinforces a familiar pattern: when business involves the American mogul, things tend to drift into murky territory. It is less a failed transfer than another reminder of how random his operations have become.
