3 weeks ago
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Nuno Espirito Santo has sparked concern amongst Nottingham Forest fans by revealing his relationship with Evangelos Marinakis' has 'changed' this summer - and not in a good way.
Espirito Santo has been a huge hit with fans of the Tricky Trees since his arrival a year ago, far exceeding expectations last season as he guided the club to a Europa League finish.
Yet despite such successes on the pitch, he and owner Evangelos Marinakis haven't always seen eye-to-eye.
The situation seemed to come to a head towards the end of last season when Marinakis stormed onto the City Ground pitch to berate Espirito Santo following a 2-2 draw with Leicester City.
And the pair are evidently yet to put their differences aside, with the Forest manager admitting during a press conference on Friday that their relationship is 'not so good'.
Nuno Espirito Santo has admitted he and Evangelos Marinakis are 'not as close' as they once were
The duo have had a noticeably strained relationship at times. Marinakis stormed onto the City Ground pitch last season to berate his manager following a 2-2 draw with Leicester City
'I always had a very good relationship with the owner,' he told reporters.
'Last season was very, very, very close, almost on a daily basis. This season, not so well, but I always believe that dialogue and your opinions are always valid because my concern is the squad and the season that we have ahead of us.
'But our relationship has changed. It's not so close, it's not on a daily basis. It's not good, I think everybody at the club should be together but it's not the reality.'
The Portuguese manager first sparked rumours of a reignited feud with Marinakis last week when discussing the state of his squad ahead of the new season.
'We are very far - very, very far - from where we should be. We are very far in terms of preparation, in terms of planning, in terms of the squad,' he said.
'The plans that we had didn't come through. The preparation in terms of the squad was not ideal. We didn't have a chance to create the bond - and this is what I think is more important.
'Because we don't know which squad we have. We have players working here who know they're going to leave on loan. We have a major problem.'
Such comments are not believed to have gone down well with Marinakis, who, according to Italian reports, is now considering sacking Espirito Santo.
The Portuguese manager claimed last week that his squad is 'very far' from where he wants it to be
Marinakis has since broken the bank in his attempts to bring in new recruits with the additions of Omari Hutchinson and Arnaud Kalimuendo
Douglas Luiz became the Tricky Trees' latest recruit on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy on Thursday
Forest are believed to be weighing up other options to lead the club forward despite spending around £140m improving their current boss's squad in recent weeks.
Indeed, since Espirito Santo's scathing comments last week, Marinakis has emptied his pockets in an attempt improve the Forest squad.
So far this summer they've brought in Jair Cunha, Igor Jesus, James McAtee, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Dan Ndoye, Omari Hutchinson and Douglas Luiz, their most recent signing.
Luis completed his move to the Tricky Trees yesterday on a season-long loan, with an obligation to buy worth around £26m.
The Brazilian midfielder joins having spent just one season at Juventus, where he struggle to settle in after making the switch from Forest's Midlands rivals Aston Villa.
Hutchinson, 21, made the switch earlier this week from Championship side Ipswich Town, signing a five-year with Forest for a £37.5million fee.
Meanwhile Kalimuendo, a player who some of Europe's biggest clubs had shown interest in, put pen to paper on a deal after Forest agreed a £26m fee with Rennes.
The 23-year-old caught the attention of the continent last season after bagging 18 goals in 34 appearances.
Forest are believed to have enquired about the possibility of signing Aston Villa right-back Matty Cash in recent days, though whether Unai Emery would be willing to let him go remains to be seen.
