Nottingham Forest are ready to table a substantial offer to bring Atalanta defender Merih Demiral to the Premier League, and a recent report has revealed whether the Italian club are likely to sell.
Who is Merih Demiral?
Demiral is naturally a centre-back who has plied his trade at the Gewiss Stadium permanently since last summer, having joined following a successful loan spell from Juventus, and across both periods with Gian Piero Gasperini’s side he’s so far made a total of 70 appearances.
The Turkey international’s contract isn’t set to expire for another three years, but his high standard of performances in the Serie A have grabbed the attention of Steve Cooper, and it’s not the first time he’s tried to lure his target to The City Ground.
Back in January, Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb reported that the Reds submitted an offer for the 25-year-old on deadline day of the transfer window which was a loan with an option to buy, and whilst his club were open to discussing a deal, it’s believed that the player himself wasn’t convinced by the project.
Now though, with the Midlands outfit having successfully survived the danger of relegation, they will be hoping to start the new top-flight campaign more convincingly which could tempt former targets to have a change of heart over a switch, and it sounds like Reds chiefs are ready to take a second bite of the cherry.
Are Nottingham Forest signing Merih Demiral?
According to TuttoMercatoWeb once again (via Sport Witness), Nottingham Forest have “contacted” Atalanta to discover the conditions of a deal for Demiral.
Evangelos Marinakis is “ready to offer” €20m (£17m) in the hope of securing the defender’s signature, and they have been handed a huge boost after learning that his side “want to sell him outright” before the end of the window.
However, the player still has “no intention” to join them and would rather wait for an “unexpected” proposal to arrive at his door, so he really isn’t keen to put pen to paper.
How good is Merih Demiral?
Football talent scout Jacek Kulig has previously dubbed Demiral a “beast” at the heart of the backline, and there’s no doubt that he would strengthen Cooper’s defensive ranks, so the fact that he isn’t set on signing this summer is a real blow for Nottingham Forest.
Atalanta’s 6 foot 3 colossus last season ranked in the 93rd percentile for tackles and the 89th percentile for aerial wins when compared with other centre-backs in the top leagues, via FBRef, so not only loves to get stuck in and challenge his opponents but is also a real physical presence in the air.
Furthermore, the Karamursel native is capable of getting involved with the action in the final third having posted 12 goal contributions (seven goals and five assists) since the start of his career, so for a player who is so well-rounded and that positively impacts the game at both ends of the pitch, it’s certainly a setback that he’s seemingly not been attracted to the project on offer to him.
