Nottingham Forest signed Cuiabano from Botafogo on transfer deadline day, completing a four-player swoop of the Brazilian side for a bargain fee.
After an initial link in June quietened down, Forest agreed a deal to sign Cuiabano over the weekend before Monday’s transfer deadline, allowing the Brazilian to travel to Trentside to finalise the move.
With deadline day in full flow, Nottingham Forest News confirmed that Cuiabano’s move to Forest was progressing as planned, as pictures were released of the left-back at the training ground.
Cuiabano was finally announced by Forest after the 7pm deadline, with a Brazilian reporter now revealing the fee that the Reds paid to secure the deal.
Cuiabano misses a chance for Botafogo against Estudiantes.
Photo by MAURO PIMENTEL/AFP via Getty Images
Nottingham Forest got a bargain with Cuiabano
The left-back became the fourth Botafogo star to make the switch to the City Ground this summer, following Igor Jesus and Jair Cunha earlier in the window and John Victor’s arrival at Forest after the defeat to West Ham.
It was a summer of expensive deals away from the Botafogo quartet as Forest’s business exceeded the £200m mark, but the Cuiabano fee was a small fraction of this.
According to Brazilian journalist Vene Casagrande: “The amount that Nottingham Forest will invest to sign Cuiabano from Botafogo is 6 million euros, about 38.4 million reais. The full-back’s contract with the English team will be for five years.”
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At just £5.2m, the Cuiabano signing comes with very little risk to Forest, exactly what the Reds would’ve wanted from a player designed to provide cover for Neco Williams and now new Forest man Oleksandr Zinchenko.
What’s even more remarkable, though, is that Botafogo had the opportunity to make more from Cuiabano back in June from a Premier League rival.
Botafogo turned down a higher bid for Cuiabano from Brighton
When Forest signed Igor Jesus in June, it was expected that Cunha and Cuiabano would join alongside him. Cunha signed a few weeks later, but the left-back’s arrival became less and less likely.
In the meantime, Brighton were making a move for Cuiabano ahead of Forest, with Brazilian outlet O Globo revealing just how high the Seagulls went in their bids.
On the 6th of June, O Globo reported that Brighton had an £8m bid rejected for the 22-year-old, a deal worth £2.8m more than what Forest have eventually paid for Cuiabano.
The Reds got a great deal on the full-back, then, perhaps aided by Evangelos Marinakis’ friendship with John Textor, who owns Botafogo.