After three years with Nottingham Forest, Cafu said goodbye to the club after his contract expired. The 30-year-old has since posted an emotional message on Instagram and received best wishes from Djed Spence and Serge Aurier.
Cafu helped the Reds win promotion to the Premier League during the 2021/22 campaign. Last season, he made an appearance in the top flight but was then omitted from the squad amid a glut of new signings.
The player has been a bit of a cult hero at the City Ground. Now, he will be available for a free transfer and moving back to Portugal seems the most likely thing to happen; although he was previously linked with Reading.
Cafu was never really established as a regular in the Forest team. He was signed as a makeweight in the deal that saw Tiago Silva head to Olympiacos back in 2020 and made 55 appearances for the Reds.
The midfielder did score a single goal during his time at Forest. That came during a 4-1 win over Swansea City last season as Steve Cooper secured a big win over the club he used to manage.
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Cafu departs Forest and receives wishes from Spence and Aurier
The right-back duo have both spent time training with Cafu. In the case of Spence, he’s also lined up alongside him in the Garibaldi during his loan spell with the club last season.
It’s a shame to see Cafu leave, although it was definitely the right call. At 30, he must go somewhere to play regular football and in reality, he wasn’t close to doing that at Forest right now.
Spence reacted on Instagram yesterday following Cafu’s post stating his pride at turning out for the club. He simply wrote: “What a player.”
Aurier was also keen to send Cafu his best wishes before he departed the club. He called him, ‘Le Boss’, and posted a sad face along with an emoji that shows two hands making out a love heart.
Cafu was a popular player among the fan base. Whoever signs him ahead of next season will get themselves a brilliant midfielder and also a fantastic character.