Nottingham Forest make Marco Silva their No 1 target to replace Postecoglou

Evangelos Marinakis has made Fulham’s Marco Silva his No 1 target to succeed Ange Postecoglou as Nottingham Forest head coach.

The Forest owner was considering replacements before sacking Postecoglou immediately after Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat by Chelsea, which extended the Australian’s winless run in charge to eight games. Sean Dyche and Roberto Mancini are among the candidates who have been sounded out.

Marinakis has returned his interest to Silva, whose buyout clause has been reported to be as high as €15m (£13m). Forest recognise it would cost to extract Silva from his contract at Craven Cottage, which expires at the end of the season.

Forest are mindful of financial restrictions, having sacked two managers this season and furnished the squad at a cost of about £200m this summer. But Marinakis is a longstanding admirer of Silva having appointed him at Olympiakos, where the Portuguese won the Greek Super League in 2015-16.

Crucially, Silva is thought to be interested in the Forest job, with the club among the favourites to win the Europa League at the outset. The 48-year-old has been at Fulham since 2021 and in England has also managed Everton, Watford and Hull.

Silva was linked with a Saudi Arabian move in the summer of 2023, only to sign a three-year deal keeping him at Craven Cottage until 2026. The summer just gone saw unrest as Fulham were slow in the transfer market, only the Brazilian forward Kevin arriving as a permanent outfield signing, with two loans in Samuel Chukwueze from Milan and Jonah Kusi-Asare, a teenager from Bayern Munich who is yet to make a first-team appearance.

Silva would be joining his fifth Premier League club, should he depart Fulham, where he has established the London club in the top division; this is their fourth in succession after promotion was secured from the Championship in 2021-22.

The Fulham owner, Shahid Khan, said this week in an interview with Talksport: “He’s been great. I really like him, not only as a person, as a football manager, head coach. Definitely, I think he’s in our long-term plans.”

Following the departure of the popular Nuno Espírito Santo and Postecoglou’s short stay, there are a number of names linked including Sean Dyche, a former Forest trainee, and Roberto Mancini, the former Manchester City manager and Italy coach.

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