Nottingham Forest are close to agreeing a deal to sign Igor Jesus, who was previously pursued by Edu Gaspar when he was Arsenal’s sporting director.
David Ornstein reports for The Athletic that Nottingham Forest are close to agreeing a triple deal with Botafogo for the signings of Igor Jesus, Cuiabano, and Jair Cunha. Though it’s not done yet, Forest are hoping to add all three players to their squad.
The pursuit of Igor Jesus is particularly interesting, because Arsenal were previously linked with the Brazilian forward.
Back in January, reports suggested Arsenal had already set the stage for a move for Jesus when Edu Gaspar was in charge as the club’s sporting director.
Edu left Arsenal in November, and he’s widely expected to officially start work within Evangelos Marinakis’ multi-club model this summer, a model that includes Nottingham Forest.
But despite the lack of an official announcement, Sami Mokbel reported for the BBC in April that Edu has already been working for Marinakis on an informal basis since leaving Arsenal.
Given Edu was the one who laid the groundwork for Arsenal’s move for Jesus, given he’s since been working for Nottingham Forest owner Marinakis, and given Nottingham Forest are now moving for Jesus, it’s fair to suggest he had some influence on their pursuit.
Arsenal are focusing on other targets, so they likely won’t mind too much about their old sporting director taking the deal to his new club.