Nottingham Forest have seen a “formal proposal” rejected for Zenit Saint Petersburg star Wilmar Barrios, according to reliable journalist Fabrizio Romano.
Who is Wilmar Barrios?
Barrios is primarily a defensive midfielder who has plied his trade at the Gazprom Arena since 2019 having moved there from Boca Juniors, and during his four years at the club, he’s so far made a total of 154 appearances to date.
The Colombia international still has another three years to run on his contract with Sergei Semak’s side, but his level of performances over the course of last season appear to have caught the eye of Steve Cooper and Evangelos Marinakis at The City Ground.
The Midlands outfit have recently lost the services of Jack Colback and Cafu, both of whom departed on free transfers upon the expiration of their deals, the former completing a switch to Championship side Queens Park Rangers and the latter also dropping down to the second tier by putting pen to paper at Rotherham.
Therefore, the boss will need to enter the market before the end of the ongoing window to find a suitable replacement in the centre of the park, and if the following update is to be believed, the 29-year-old seems to have been highlighted as an ideal candidate by the hierarchy to make the move to the Premier League in England.
Are Nottingham Forest signing Wilmar Barrios?
Taking to Twitter, Romano revealed that Nottingham Forest have tabled an official offer for Barrios, but this has already been swiftly turned down as a result of it being under Zenit Saint Petersburg’s valuation. He wrote:
“EXCL: Nottingham Forest submitted formal proposal to sign Colombian midfielder Wilmar Barrios. Understand bid is around €4m [£3m] fee but Zenit St Petersburg rejected as they want way more to let Barrios leave, around €15m [£12m].”
The Reds are also on the verge of signing goalkeeper Matt Turner from Arsenal, with the USA internationa expected to join after an agreement was reached over the weekend.
How good is Wilmar Barrios?
Nottingham Forest will know that Barrios is stronger in the natural defensive aspect of his game having racked up just three goal contributions last season, but having been dubbed a midfield “general” in front of the backline by journalist Josh Bunting, he could be a promising summer acquisition for Cooper.
The Cartagena native averaged 2.2 tackles and 1.6 interceptions per league game during the previous term so he isn’t afraid to get stuck in and win back possession for his team, not to mention that he also recorded an 85.4% pass success rate which was higher than any of the regular features in the manager’s squad in the top-flight, highlighting his excellent calmness and composure on the ball.
Sponsored by Adidas, the Zenit talisman will additionally already know what it takes to compete and be successful at the highest level having secured 12 pieces of silverware since the start of his career, so should he put pen to paper, he would be able to instil a much-needed winning mentality into the squad to ensure that the club don’t find themselves in the same danger of relegation as they were last season.