Reports of Nottingham Forest being "very close" to appointing Pep Segura as sporting director are understood to be wide of the mark.
The 61-year-old has been linked with both the Reds and fellow Evangelos Marinakis-owned outfit Olympiacos. According to Spanish media outlet Relevo, he was the “main candidate” to be sports director at the Greek side, with a role at the City Ground “another possibility”.
An update then suggested he is “very close” to being appointed Forest sporting director. However, it is understood that is wide of the mark.
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Greek media had earlier dismissed the suggestion Segura could return to Olympiacos, having previously had a spell as assistant and as manager. OnSports reported there was an “immediate” clarification from the club, pointing out, “no issue has been raised with the return of the Spaniard to the team, let alone the role of sports director”.
Forest boss Steve Cooper has credited Segura with having a great influence on him as a young coach, and the pair have remained in touch. They worked together at Liverpool’s academy, with Segura going on to be Barcelona’s head of academy.
The Reds head coach has previously said: “Pep was, and is, a major influence, because I still speak to him now. He helped me understand how the game can be played and what it takes to play that way.
“Not so much just playing - it was about how you train as well, how you prepare players to do things in the way that you want. He taught me about the methodology behind things as well as how to do things.
“The biggest message that Pep gave me was that you’ve got to know what you want your team to look like. That’s what I pride myself on now - having a clear view of when the team is getting it right and where I want them to go, but also how to get there. Pep put me on a different track, really.”
Segura has said of Cooper: "When I came to Liverpool, Steve quickly became my right-hand man. My English isn’t perfect, but from the first day, he understood my idea and translated it for both the coaches and players.
"I spoke with them all myself but Steve was important because he really sought to understand me and took the time to learn it every day. He just wanted to learn and understand everything. During our time together, our conversations about the game went deeper and deeper.
"He could then explain my own idea better than I could to my coaches. After I left, he developed even more and worked with players like Trent Alexander-Arnold.
"What makes him a great coach is that he didn't play at a high level. He has learned to understand players through coaching. He developed his ideas and philosophy and then put in place a coaching methodology that has great detail.
"He has worked with progressively older players and brings the British mentality with his jokes, personality and managing upwards within his institutions. He is a European-style coach with the British mentality."
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