Club fear Marinakis and Nuno are being sneaky to land £6m discount on Nottingham Forest transfer

There are fears from a selling club that Nottingham Forest have pulled off a sneaky piece of business in landing a discount for one of their summer signings should they wish to finalise the move.

Forest secure survival

Though not mathematically safe yet, Nottingham Forest have all but ensured their Premier League survival ahead of the final day. Facing already-relegated Burnley, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side need just a point to be certain of survival, and even were Luton to win their game against Fulham and Forest to fall to defeat, it would require a 13 goal swing to have any impact on the final standings.

There is summer uncertainty ahead though at the City Ground, with pressure to meet financial fair play regulations once more and the threat of potentially being docked yet more points if they fail to, which could lead to some big sales.

Already some decisions have been made, with Giovanni Reyna’s loan move not set to be made permanent and speculation surrounding the likes of Murillo and Morgan Gibbs-White, who may follow him out of the door.

With money tight in the Midlands this summer, every penny will count, and one club believe that Nottingham Forest have used an underhand technique to land a discount.

Montiel summer deal could still go ahead

That comes in the shape of Sevilla, who loaned Gonzalo Montiel to Nottingham Forest for the season. The Spanish outfit added an obligation to buy the player for 11m euros (£9.4m), which came into play if Montiel featured in 50% of their matches in the Premier League across the season.

But the 27-year-old has endured a tough campaign, and was benched by Steve Cooper. When Nuno Espirito Santo arrived, Montiel started four of his first five games in charge, before once more being consigned to the bench or left out of the squad entirely.

However, injury to Williams has seen him restored to the side for the final three games of the season, and local reports in Spain claim Sevilla believe that “a black hand may have pulled a string”, in that they opted not to play him so as to avoid paying the transfer fee.

And with Montiel set to return to the south of Spain this summer, he will once again be on the market for around 4m euros (£3.4m), meaning that Forest would have secured a roughly £6m discount on the player were they to return for him ahead of the new season.

It as of yet unclear whether they will choose to do so, but Sevilla clearly feel that this is the plan they have set in motion, and it could be one that saves them some key funds this summer.