Agent: ‘Nzola snubbed Nottingham Forest for Turkey’

M’Bala Nzola’s agent reveals the Spezia striker snubbed a move to Nottingham Forest and is now in talks with İstanbul Başakşehir.

Nzola wants to leave Spezia and he came close to joining Genoa during the summer transfer window. However, the swap deal with Mattia Destro collapsed on the deadline day, so the Angola international is still waiting to leave the Aquile.

“The player wanted to stay in Serie A and Genoa was his first choice,” the striker’s agent Doug Pingisi told Gianluca Di Marzio.

“We had contacts with English and Turkish clubs, but M’Bala wanted Genoa only. However, the two clubs failed to reach an agreement, so the deal collapsed.”

Nzola can still move to Turkey, where the summer transfer window ends on September 8. Former Juventus and Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic is flying to Istanbul to complete a move to Besiktas and Nzola could face the Bosnia international next season.

Watch: Pjanic flies in for Besiktas medical

“We are in talks with İstanbul Başakşehir,” the striker’s agent revealed. We are waiting for Spezia’s green light to complete the transfer. Turkey is the player’s second favourite option after Serie A. For this reason, we didn’t continue talks with Vitoria Guimaraes and we rejected a move to Nottingham Forest because they play in England’s second division.”

Nzola scored 11 goals in 25 Serie A appearances last term, delivering four assists. He wasn’t even on the Spezia bench in their first two games of the season against Cagliari and Lazio. His contract with the Aquilotti expires in June 2023, but it seems that he will be on his way out of the Stadio Alberto Picco earlier than that.

Le parole dell'agente sul mancato #trasferimento di #Nzola al @GenoaCFC https://t.co/BeNznMOCXJ

— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) September 2, 2021