Two years ago Nottingham Forest wanted Porto midfielder, Sergio Oliveira. Sabri Lamouchi was keen to bolster his squad, with the eye-catching loan signing, although a move never came to fruition.
Interestingly, his career has gone from strength to strength since then. Last season, he scored 20 goals and registered seven assists from 48 appearances as a central midfielder.
During 2021/22 he’s found the net five times and is now set for a big transfer.
Oliveira is set to link up with Jose Mourinho at Roma. The Serie A outfit are sixth in the division and the former Manchester United and Tottenham boss is keen to add reinforcements.
The 29-year-old has been at Porto since signing for the academy in 2005. He has made 174 appearances for the club and also spent time on loan with Pacos de Ferreira, PAOK, FC Penafiel, KV Mechelen and Nantes.
His intriguing career has also seen him capped 13 times for Portugal, with his debut coming in 2018. Olveira has been part of the national team setup throughout his career; featuring for every age group from under-16s.
A move to Roma would represent a remarkable turnaround in two years. He will go from being set for a loan to the City Ground to strutting his stuff at Stadio Olimpico.
Bizarre: Oliveira one that got away from Forest
The story behind the midfielder’s resurgence is quite something. He was going nowhere fast at Porto and was seemingly on his way to Nottingham to sign for Forest.
Injuries led to him getting an opportunistic look in during the second half of 2019/20 and he hasn’t looked back.
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Lamouchi will hold some angst towards the club for the January window of 2020. With Forest nicely poised for a promotion push, the Reds were desperate for some decent additions.
Gaetan Bong, Adama Diakhaby and Nuno Da Costa were the only arrivals, with the Reds subsequently losing their top-six place in embarrassing fashion on the last day.
Now, Oliveira can look forward to playing under Mourinho and Forest must be wondering how the 29-year-old got away from them.