Nottingham Forest boast obvious ties with Olympiakos, but does that mean there is substance to speculation surrounding Joao Carvalho and Hillal Soudani?
Time will tell.
Both men are, as things stand, being linked with summer moves to Greece.
Evangelos Marinakis has a foot in both camps here and can, if he so wishes, pretty much do what he wants.
Should he decree that Carvalho would be better placed in Athens than Nottingham, then a move should be expected.
The man at the helm has, however, favoured a hands-off approach during his association with the Reds.
Which is most welcome.
Those in England have been trusted to steer things as they see fit.
Martin O’Neill is the man in the dugout and should expect to have a serious say in goings on around him.
Declaration
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
If he wants Carvalho on his books, then he must say so.
Should such a declaration be made, then it appears as though the Portuguese will stay put.
The same rules will apply for Soudani, who SDNA are mooting a switch for.
There is a bigger picture, though, and two ‘businesses’ to be run.
Deals involving two clubs some 2,112 miles apart have already been done.
Panagiotis Tachtsidis and Karim Ansarifard arrived on Trentside after being freed from contracts in Greece.
Gil Dias, meanwhile, headed in the opposite direction after struggling to make his mark during a loan spell with Forest.
Is there the potential for more collaboration?
Reds CEO Ioannis Vrentzos has told Sport24: “The two teams have their own goals, participate in challenging divisions, where they want to play a leading role, and Olympiakos also has its European obligations.
“The two teams operate independently, with their sole focus on their own success.”
Profitable
So, no exits from the City Ground unless Forest give the word?
Well, Vrentzos added: “Where there are opportunities for co-transcriptional cooperation that can be profitable to both sides, this is always done with objective criteria.”
Profitable to both sides.
Where do Carvalho and Soudani fit within those criteria?
The former certainly boasts obvious value to the Reds, with his creativity likely to be key in any promotion push staged in 2019-20.
Even the latter, after an injury-ravaged debut season in England, could prove useful.
The same could be said of their qualities over in Greece.
So what are we left with?
Yet more questions and not a lot of answers!