Evangelos Marinakis, Nottingham Forest’s owner, is a great fan of a head coach preparing for a European final to replace Nuno Espirito Santo.
The Portuguese incumbent has helped Forest stay in the Premier League this season, but his future remains questionable.
Fabrizio Romano claimed on Monday that Forest might not maintain Espirito Santo, and now rumors appear to be spreading.
Furthermore, Forest’s Espirito Santo is on Bayern’s shortlist for their new manager.
Now that a name has emerged, it appears that Forest is in the midst of contacting other head coaches.
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Mariankis likes Vincenzo Italiano.
When it comes to Nottingham Forest, there is never a dull moment on the news.
Now, no sooner than Espirito Santo has completed his duties with the Reds, he could be looking for work again.
According to The Standard in Greece, Forest owner Marinakis is a big fan of Vincenzo Italiano, who is presently the manager of Fiorentina.
Nothing on this one will be announced soon, as the Serie A club prepares for the Europa Conference League Final versus Olympiacos.
It’s intriguing that this news came out a week before Marinakis’ other club is scheduled to play against Italiano.
The Forest owner will have the opportunity to witness the manager in action and may then discuss a move to Nottingham with him.
Who is Vincenzo Italiano?
The 46-year-old was born in Germany but moved to Italy when he was six months old. He has spent the majority of his career playing football in his parents’ birthplace.
He has played for Trapani, Hellas Verona, Genoa, Chievo, and Padua.
He began his coaching career as an assistant manager at Venezia in 2015, and has since managed the youth teams at Lupranense San Paolo and Vigontina San Paolo.
In 2018, he joined Trapani and then transferred to Spezia, where he was instantly promoted to Serie A.
In 2021, he grabbed the attention of Fiorentina, where he has remained ever since.
He took the team to the Europa Conference League final last year, but lost in devastating fashion to West Ham, who scored late.
He has once again advanced to the tournament’s final, where he will face the Marinakis-owned Olympiacos.
Sacking Espirito Santo would be quite severe.
Naturally, Marinakis is a highly ambitious owner, but at some point, he must give a head coach the opportunity to establish anything.
These sources suggest that he is dissatisfied with what he has seen from Espirito Santo at Forest.
Sacking him would be unfair, given everything he’s been through at City Ground.
Naturally, this could be a tactic by Marinakis to unsettle the Fiorentina coach ahead of next week’s European final.
Italiano would be a helpful choice if Marinakis decided to remove Espirito Santo from Forest.
However, allowing the current head coach to establish his own power over the club is perhaps the absolute minimum he deserves after 2023/24.
