Nottingham Forest’s move to sign APOEL defender Nicholas Ioannou has reportedly been put on hold due to interest from Serie B outfit Brescia.
Greek journalist Gerasimos Manolidis has made the claim on Twitter and Forest could now be set for an anxious wait.
The ex-Manchester United youth prospect has developed into a quality left-sided defender in Cyprus.
He had been thought to be close to a move to the City Ground, with Forest looking for another defender to bolster their ranks.
Ioannou played 33 games last season playing in the Champions League qualifiers and helping the club to the last 32 of the Europa League.
The 24-year-old is typically a left-back but can also operate as a left-sided central defender too.
Forest have added Tyler Blackett to their ranks this summer but he played at centre-half at Barnsley on Saturday, indicating the club perhaps needs some cover for Yuri Ribeiro at left-back.
The man who was a captain of the Red Devils’ youth ranks during his time at Old Trafford had been identified as the man to provide that competition but that might not be the case anymore.
__VIDEO__
Manolidos knows his stuff when it comes to Cypriot football, breaking the original interest from Forest in Ioannou.
He now claims that APOEL would rather sell to the Italian outfit, although the player is keen to move to England and sign for Forest.
Forest were thought to be paying £750,000 for the defender and another Tweet implies that Brescia might be offering more.
It doesn’t seem as though Forest will raise their offer for the tough-tackling performer and that makes sense.
The Reds have been savvy in the transfer market so far and they shouldn’t change such a strategy.
With that in mind, it could be back to the drawing board for the Reds in their quest to complete their defensive recruitment.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
