Joao Carvalho has sent his best wishes as former club Nottingham Forest chase promotion to the Premier League.
The Reds’ record signing made the switch to fellow Evangelos Marinakis-owned outfit Olympiacos in January. That brought an end to his three-and-a-half-year spell at the City Ground, having joined from Benfica in the summer of 2018 for £13m.
Carvalho has described heading to Greece as a “challenging move”. But it has resulted in a league title as Olympiacos have been crowned champions.
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And the Portuguese hopes Forest can follow with a bit of success of their own. He will no doubt be keeping an eye as Steve Cooper’s side head to Wembley on Sunday week to face Huddersfield Town in the Championship play-offs final.
The 25-year-old has posted a message on Instagram alongside pictures of himself celebrating Olympiacos’ victory, playing for the Greek side and in action for the Reds. He wrote: “Finishing the season with a (trophy emoji)! A season with a challenging move in the middle of it, that certainly helped me grow and live a new experience. Never easy but I gave my everything for my new club and our fans @olympiacosfc. Hoping for another celebration now @officialnffc. Time to recharge batteries and see you next season.”
Carvalho had 18 months left to run on his Forest contract when he departed. But he had been struggling for regular game time, finding himself down the pecking order.
On Tuesday night, he posted a picture on his Instagram Stories of Reds fans on the City Ground pitch celebrating victory over Sheffield United. He wrote: "Love this feeling! #COYR." And he added a heart emoji as he also said "love you" of goalkeeping hero Brice Samba.
Carvalho said last month: "This season, if I can bet for a team to be promoted I would bet on Nottingham Forest for sure because I know the quality is there. I know how good the coach is as well because I like the way he works, he works every day to improve the team. The results are there and if I could bet for a team it would be them, for sure."