Now that Odysseas Vlachodimos has joined Nottingham Forest on a four-year contract signed, his situation is completely the opposite of last week, when he was going through a hard time at Benfica.
Following a disagreement with manager Roger Schmidt, the player went looking for a move, as he didn’t want to risk spending the season on the Eagles’ bench.
This situation was now explained by Benfica president Rui Costa, who, on Tuesday evening, shared some more details on Vlachodimos’ departure from Lisbon. The quotes come from Record.
The club chief claimed that playing in the Premier League had always been the goalkeeper’s desire, and Nottingham Forest ended up a solution for all parties involved.
“It’s still a sensitive situation, I’m not going to sweep it under the rug, because it turned out to be public,” Rui Costa told BTV.
“Vlachodimos represented Benfica for five years and deserves from me, and from all Benfica fans, the greatest respect. After what happened, after realising that he could lose space in the team, it was his own will to create a solution. Two days before the market ended last season, Vlachodimos had a proposal from Ajax that was very advantageous for him and we couldn’t even look at the proposal, the player’s will or our will, because the market was closing, and we didn’t have a solution.
“The arrival of Trubin also presented not only competition in goal, but also a possible departure from Vlachodimos. A proposal came from Nottingham, which was beneficial for Benfica from a financial point of view, but essentially for the player, as it was a way out that pleased him. Playing in the Premier League was one of the goals that the player had. In a thoughtful conversation, we thought that the best solution for both parties was to give in to this proposal and for the player to look for another experience.”
Vlachodimos spent five years at Benfica, making 225 appearances, and that’s why his departure from the club was followed by some controversy this summer. His time at the Estádio da Luz included two league titles for the Eagles.
It had been reported that Nottingham Forest had been facing some resistance from the goalkeeper at first, but they ended up being the only solution to this late summer saga.
