Nottingham Forest have made a bid to sign Luiz Felipe from Real Betis but they’re about £5 million short. The Reds have made a bid of £13 million for the player who is currently valued around the £18 million mark.
According to Betis Be Soccer, the Reds are in the race to sign the centre-back. West Ham are also keen to do some business with the La Liga outfit but haven’t bid just yet.
Felipe has been with Betis since last summer when he transferred from Serie A outfit Lazio. He’d been with the Italian club for six years and has also played for Salernitana in the top flight.
The tough-tackling performer made 31 appearances in his maiden campaign with Betis. He was sent off a staggering three times and played against Manchester United in the Europa League.
The defender was even sent off during pre-season ahead of the 2023/24 campaign! During a fiery 1-1 draw against Burnley, he was shown a straight red card for a headbutt on a Clarets player.
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Felipe is quite experienced to say that he’s only 26-years-old. During his time with Lazio, he made 144 appearances and became a fan favourite at the club.
Now, he could be on the move from Betis after just a season playing in La Liga. He did, however, play the full 90 minutes at the weekend and it would appear that the club are open to keeping him.
Forest are keen to add another central defender to their ranks. Moussa Niakhate returned from a dislocated elbow to sit on the bench at the weekend, but Felipe has a knee problem.
Forest make bid for Luiz Felipe but it’s not enough
This is another deal where the Forest will need to up the ante. £18 million doesn’t seem like much for a player with Felipe’s profile and it will be interesting to see what happens here.
The Reds clearly want to sign a new defender this month. They’ve been linked with several and now it would seem as though attention is being switched to Felipe.
Hopefully, they can get something over the line before the transfer window closes. Games will start coming thick and fast and the Reds won’t want to be left short at the back.
Rumour rating: 7/10 – This is an intriguing one. Having two Felipe’s at the back might be a little bit confusing but at 26, perhaps this Felipe will be a good long-term replacement for the current performer.
His discipline might need addressing though. Forest can ill-afford too many suspensions and three red cards in a season simply won’t do from their perspective.