Nottingham Forest are close to wrapping up the signing of Douglas Luiz, talkSPORT understands.
Former Aston Villa star Luiz was keen to return to England a year after his £50m move to Turin, and Nuno Espirito Santo’s men have agreed a fee.
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Ambitious Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis has been in discussions with Juventus, and he will pay £25million to the Italian giants.
talkSPORT understands that former Arsenal technical director Edu played a key role in bringing his fellow Brazilian to the City Ground.
It’s unclear what Forest will pay Luiz, but the midfielder was looking for over £100,000-per-week.
The 27-year-old played 175 Premier League games for Villa and helped them qualify for last season’s Champions League.
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Everton had also registered their interest in the midfielder, but he is set to link up with Nuno instead.
Luiz has made just three starts for the Serie A giants since his departure from Aston Villa last summer.
Therefore, the 18-cap Brazil international will have plenty to prove once he arrives Trentside.
What next for Forest?
Nottingham Forest looked to be in for a summer of pain when they Anthony Elanga to Newcastle for £55m.
That was then followed by Tottenham Hotspur triggering Morgan Gibbs-White’s release clause.
It looked nailed on he was going to Spurs with a medical booked, but Forest blocked the deal and claimed the release clause had been illegally activated.
Forest consulted their lawyers before drafting a letter to Tottenham and the Premier League outlining their anguish. They also reportedly told Spurs to not make any further contact with the player.
The deal then went totally quiet before it was announced that he had signed a new contract at the City Ground.
He posted arguably his best season to date last term helping Forest to a seventh-placed finish and European football for the first time in 30 years.
Gibbs-White was key to Forest’s fortunes last season, netting seven goals and registering eight assists in the league, so to have him tied down is a huge boost.
Since then, it has also been confirmed that the Trentsiders will play in the Europa League.
This happened after Crystal Palace lost their battle with UEFA over playing in the Europa League or Europa Conference League.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] ruled that John Textor was a person of significant influence at Palace and Lyon, and therefore, one had to be in the Conference League and one in the Europa League.
That meant Forest claimed Palace’s spot in UEFA’s secondary competition.
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This has triggered a large amount of spending from Marinakis.
Since their place in the Europa League was confirmed, Forest have spent big.
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James McAtee, Omari Hutchinson and Arnaud Kalimuendo have all joined.
They have been added to the additions of Dan Ndoye, Igor Jesus and Jair Cunha.
