Nottingham Forest continue to push to sign Juventus midfielder Douglas Luiz and according to reports from Italy, Evangelos Marinakis, the owner of the Premier League club, is now negotiating directly

On Monday, Corriere dello Sport reported talks between Juventus and Nottingham Forest were ongoing for Douglas Luiz. With the Italian side pushing to earn a total of €40m from the sale, Forest have been trying to drag them closer to €30m.

He is aware this is something that will take time; that will not happen overnight. But the Portuguese manager is entirely aware that the element of surprise — which saw Forest stun the Premier League with an approach that earned them a seventh-place finish last season — will be lost.

Nottingham Forest host Brentford on Sunday, with the visitors to leave out Yoane Wissa amid transfer talks with Newcastle United.

Sunderland and Liverpool showed the virtue of just chucking in a load of debutants on the opening weekend, while a couple of clubs had no new faces at all.