Nottingham Forest man set to complete ‘permanent’ Olympiacos transfer
The latest Nottingham Forest transfer news as the defender missed the majority of last season after suffering a serious knee injury.
Nottingham Forest full-back Giulian Biancone looks set to complete a permanent transfer away from the City Ground, according to reports in Greece.
The French U19 international was one of many new faces to arrive at the club last summer as Steve Cooper undersaw a overhaul of his squad following promotion to the Premier League. Biancone joined from French side Troyes for a fee of around £5 million.
His time at the City Ground has been blighted by injury. After making two Premier League appearances off the bench, Biancone suffered a serious knee injury, which ruled him out for the remainder of the season.
Having stepped up his recovery ahead of the new campaign, the 23-year-old has featured in one match for the club’s U21 side in Premier League 2. He played 62 minutes at centre-back in the 2-2 draw against Middlesbrough U21s.
It now seems that the Frenchman may have made his final appearance for Forest. According to Sportime’s Giannis Chorianopoulos , Biancone is set to sign for Olympiacos, a club also owned by Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, on a permanent deal. It is added that the move will be official on ‘Tuesday morning’.
Any deal would have had to have been completed by the end of Monday, with the Greek transfer window closing on September 11. Olympiacos’ interest in Biancone was
The deal is not the first this summer to happen between the two clubs. Full-back Omar Richards and attacking midfielder Gustavo Scarpa have both joined the Greek club on season long loans in order to increase their game time away from the City Ground.
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West Ham boss David Moyes opens up on Jesse Lingard’s future with the ex-Man United star linked with a return as the free agent continues to train with the Hammers after Nottingham Forest exit
West Ham boss David Moyes opened up on the possibility of Jesse Lingard returning to the London Stadium, with the former Manchester United midfielder currently a free agent.
Lingard spent the second half of the 2021-22 season on loan at the Hammers, and quickly endeared himself to the fans with a string of stellar performances that saw him hit the back of the net nine times in 16 games.
With his time at United coming to a close at the end of that season, there was an expectation that he might return to east London permanently, only for the England international to sign a big-money one-year deal with Nottingham Forest instead.
Now, having left the City Ground, Lingard has spent the last three weeks training with his former club, leading to speculation that he may be in line for a new deal.
‘Jesse has trained with us for three weeks and he’s improved greatly from when he first came in,’ Moyes told talkSPORT on Tuesday.
Jesse Lingard spent the latter half of 2021-22 on loan at West Ham, scoring nine times in 16 games
David Moyes (left) admitted that Lingard has come on leaps and bounds since training with the Hammers
Lingard is currently a free agent after being released by Nottingham Forest in the summer
‘I have to say, when Jesse joined us two years ago I think he scored nine goals in 15 games and was probably the difference between us getting into Europe for the first time.
‘I want to give him every opportunity to get himself back in condition and see how he does.
‘So there’s no real update on it at the moment, just to say that he’s back and getting much closer to the levels of fitness where you’d hope he would be.’
Moyes has been quick to praise Lingard’s efforts in training in recent days, although he has failed to rule out a return completely.
The 30-year-old in fact featured in a behind-closed-doors friendly with Ipswich during the international break, although no footage was released from the fixture as a result of a pre-determined agreement between the two clubs.
West Ham have made a brilliant start to the 2023-24 campaign, currently sat in fourth after three wins and a draw.
‘It’s been a brilliant start for us,’ added Moyes.
‘We only finished on June 7, we gave the boys extra time off.
‘We had booked a trip to Australia which meant we only had three days back before we flew to Australia. So in truth our pre-season was really bog average compared to what you’d maybe expect. But in football you never know how it’s going to work.
‘We got some players in a bit later but the boys that have come in have been great and the way we have started has given us real confidence – we have won a couple of really big games.’
The Hammers will next play on Saturday, when they welcome the reigning champions – and the team sat top of the table already – Manchester City to the London Stadium.
