Transfer to Nottingham Forest seen as a calamity, things getting worse

AC Milan welcome Liverpool this evening in the UEFA Champions League, and the match is inevitably getting endless coverage in the Italian sport media.

Milan News have spoken to Paolo Avanti, deputy editor at Gazzetta dello Sport, and he gave some interesting opinions on what he thinks of Arne Slot’s side.

For example whilst he rates the team, he believes they’re not good enough to win the Premier League and that Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are entering the autumn of their careers.

Nottingham Forest got a couple of mentions.

Firstly, because Nuno Espirito Santo’s side beat Liverpool at the weekend. Avanti didn’t think that was such a negative mark against Slot, saying “file it away as a classic accident along the way”.

The second mention was related to Divock Origi. He, then as a Liverpool player, decided the last match between AC Milan and the Anfield club.

Origi later moved to the Rossoneri as a free agent. In his first season with them he scored two goals, against Monza and Sassuolo.

Quite obviously, that wasn’t enough for Milan and they sent him to Nottingham Forest on loan… where he scored once… against Bristol City.

Avanti gave his view: “He was lucky enough to play in a Liverpool that was a perfect machine, also scoring in the Champions League final. And this weighed on the perception of the player, but I must say that when he went to Milan I was already perplexed. He was a free agent and maybe as a gamble he could have been a good one, certainly it went worse than expected. His character may have also weighed, certainly when he tried to relaunch himself at Nottingham Forest it was a disaster.”

So what of Divock Origi now? Well, he has an AC Milan contract lasting until 2026 on wages nobody wants to match. The 29-year-old wouldn’t leave in the summer and has been sent to spend his time with a Milan reserve team.