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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Morgan Ofori

Nottingham Forest sign Portugal winger Jota Silva from Vitória for initial €7m

Jota Silva celebrates after scoring one of his 15 goals for Vitória de Guimarães last season.
Jota Silva celebrates after scoring one of his 15 goals for Vitória de Guimarães last season. Photograph: Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

Nottingham Forest have signed the Portuguese winger Jota Silva from Vitória de Guimarães on a four-year contract for €7m (£5.9m) plus add-ons.

The deal will reach €12m if the forward plays more than 15 games and scores 10 goals and the Portuguese club also have a 20% sell-on clause.

Jota is the sixth addition to Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad this summer after Carlos Miguel, Nikola Milenkovic, Eric da Silva Moreira, Elliot Anderson and Marko Stamenic.

Jota made 83 appearances for Vitória over two seasons, scoring 20 goals, having joined in June 2022 from Casa Pia.

Likened to Jack Grealish, the winger scored 15 in last season’s breakthrough campaign. He was called up to Roberto Martínez’s Portugal squad, winning his first caps in the March friendlies against Sweden and Slovenia.

Jota, who turned 25 on Thursday, had been the subject of firm interest from the Russian side Krasnodar and Greece’s Panathanaikos. It was thought West Ham might be a suitor but their interest cooled and they are in for Leeds’ Dutch winger Crysencio Summerville.

Jota comes in after Nuno highlighted Forest’s lack of depth in wide areas last month. “Everyone can see we need wingers,” the manager said. “The only natural wingers we have are Callum [Hudson-Odoi] and Anthony [Elanga].”

Crystal Palace have completed the signing of the forward Ismaïla Sarr from Marseille on a five-year contract. The 26-year-old spent four seasons at Watford – two in the Premier League and two in the Championship – before joining Marseille last July.

Palace’s manager, Oliver Glasner, said: “In every year, in every club where he was, he’s showed that he can score goals. He showed it as well in the national team for Senegal, so we are really pleased that he will join our group.”

Pascal Gross has been described as Brighton’s “greatest-ever Premier League signing” after the midfielder joined Borussia Dortmund. The German’s transfer to his boyhood club ends a seven-year spell at Albion, for whom he made 261 appearances.

Brighton’s chairman, Tony Bloom, said: “In terms of his contribution on the pitch, Pascal goes down as the club’s greatest-ever Premier League signing. He has been with us since the start of the Premier League era and has been such a superb player for us.”

Ipswich have signed the 31-year-old full-back Conor Townsend from West Brom on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

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