According to Paul Taylor of Nottinghamshire Live, Nottingham Forest are close to completing a permanent deal for Yuri Ribeiro. The Benfica defender confirmed his departure on Instagram and is in England to hold talks with Forest. He could be officially confirmed as a Forest player today if all goes well.
The Reds were expected to sign a new left-back this summer after failing to replace Danny Fox in January. Forest had Jack Robinson and Ben Osborn to choose from, but the former has operated at centre-back and the latter often plays in midfield. Ribeiro could solve their problem in defence.
The 22-year-old rose through the youth ranks to the Benfica first-team in 2018 and has gone on to make nine appearances in all competitions. Ribeiro has featured heavily at youth level (14 appearances for Benfica u19s, 47 appearances for Benfica B) but he’s opted to leave to get more first-team football.
Given a lack of natural left-backs in the squad, Ribeiro could become a regular at the City Ground in 2019/20. He touched down in the country on Monday morning, so there’s every chance of him following Sammy Ameobi and Tiago Silva through the door as Forest’s third summer signing.
