The ownership group of Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos are in talks to name Francois Modesto as advisor, sources tell CBS Sports. Greek businessman and investor Evangelos Marinakis, owner of both clubs, has zeroed in on Modesto for the new role of his ownership group that has had control of the English side since 2017. Nottingham are currently third in the Premier League table and are in the race for a spot in the next UEFA Champions League. In this role, Modesto would also advise Marinakis in all his sporting activities, and the two have worked together already at Olympiacos from 2016 to 2019 before moving to Forest in 2019 to 2020.
Marinakis has a net worth of $4.2 billion and has a lot of ambition for the immediate future of his group that controls Nottingham Forest. Over the past weeks, the Greek owner specifically asked to reestablish a working relationship with Modesto, after the Frenchman terminated his contract with Monza, after two successful years where he brought players at the club like Italian talent Daniel Maldini and appointed current Fiorentina manager Raffaele Palladino. Among others, he was able to sell players like Carlos Augusto to Inter for around $15 million, Michele De Gregorio to Juventus for $18 million and the same Maldini to Atalanta for $14 million, creating a roster that financially helped the club.
Due to his work at Monza, he attracted the interest of multiple clubs around Italy, and last year he was in talks with AS Roma where Greek CEO Lina Souloukou wanted him as the two worked together at Olympiacos before. Now, the two will meet again as Souloukou became the new CEO of Nottingham Forest starting on Jan. 5.
During his Olympiacos years, Modesto skillfully managed to increase the revenue of both clubs owned by the Greek president through his work in the transfer market, supported by strong sporting results. Under his management, Olympiacos developed and sold players to top-tier European clubs: Panagiotis Retsos to Bayer Leverkusen, Konstantinos Tsimikas to Liverpool, Daniel Podence and Jose Sa to Wolverhampton, and Luka Milivojevic to Crystal Palace, as well as Matty Cash who joined Aston Villa from Forest in the summer of 2020 for $16 million.
At Olympiacos, he won four Greek league titles and one Greek Cup while Nottingham Forrest were promoted for the first time in 25 years when he was at the club. He’s now ready to be back working with Marinakis to build the future of a possible new Champions League side for next season.
Former Arsenal sporting director Edu Gaspar was linked with the Forest late last year, but he was never officially appointed.
