On a spending spree: Marinakis’ transfer records with Nottingham & Olympiakos

35 newcomers

Nottingham Forest was one of the biggest stories of the summer transfer window. The newly promoted Premier League club smashed transfer records one after another, signing more than 22 first-team players during that period, beating a UK record in the process. The security of the so-called “parachute” payments increased the willingness to invest of the Greek owner Vangelis Marinakis, who is also making a name for himself at home, near Olympiacos Piraeus, with a gigantic transfer effort. Can this go well?

Marinakis took over at Nottingham Forest in 2017 and that year led the club back to the Premier League for the first time since 1999. What followed was an incredible development. Forest not only broke records in terms of player signings, but also in terms of funds invested. The Premier League promoted spent 161.95 million euros on new players in the past transfer window. Only four clubs invested more. Although enormous investments are not uncommon, especially for those who are promoted to the richest league in the world, the Reds quickly broke the record for the highest expenditures made by a promoted player in the history of football for one season.

However, investing in Nottingham is only part of the story. Marinakis is not only involved in the “Tricky Trees”, but is also the owner and president of Olympiacos Piraeus. Marinakis has signed a further 13 players for the Greek Super League club this summer, plus Ui-jo Hwang and Josh Bowler. The two were signed by Forest and then loaned out to Olympiakos. Makes a staggering total of 35 players signed by the Greek entrepreneur for his projects this season alone.

Forest & Olympiakos transfer spending: ‘An incredible story’

“If you think about it, it’s an incredible story,” a players’ agent who wished to remain anonymous told Transfermarkt.co.uk. “I called their sporting director (Christian Karembeu at Olympiakos, ed.) this summer to see if he could still use players. He said to me, ‘No, we’re not doing any more deals.’ And then they signed all these guys at once.” The transfer frenzy at Olympiakos in the final days of the Greek transfer window was indeed incredible – and culminated on Deadline Day on 15 September. Ex-Bayern professional James Rodríguez, Congolese striker Cédric Bakambu and Hoffenheim’s Diadié Samassékou are just three notable signings from Greece on the deadline day.

In total, Olympiacos spent €16m on new players, with the most valuable coming on loan or on free transfers. So the investments are far removed from those that Forest made in the summer. But in the context of the Greek league, they are amazing expenses. In comparison, the most generous club after Olympiacos – PAOK – paid less than half (€5.98m) on transfers.

Super League: Valuable Olympiakos transfers increase gap in squad values

Olympiakos’ transfers have also widened the gap in squad value with their closest rivals. Olympiacos currently has a squad value of €141.8m, while AEK Athens is second with a squad value of just €54.55m. Although the gap can partly be explained by the massively inflated squad size (37) in the transfer window, even if you take the average market value per player, Olympiacos is still almost 2 million euros above AEK.

“This strategy will either be a complete success or completely backfire,” estimates the agent. “There is nothing in between. But when you look at the number of players signed, it’s hard to imagine that you can find any kind of chemistry.”

Nottingham’s Transfer Offensive: A high stakes poker game

The transfer activities have not yet borne fruit. Both promoted Forest and champions Olympiakos started with problems. Nottingham have picked up just four points from their first seven games and sit 19th, penultimate, in the Premier League table. Olympiakos are now sixth in the Super League with just eight points from their first five games of the season.

On the other hand, the transfers could also prove to be future investments. An agent noted to Transfermarkt that the amount of capital acquired, be it Morgan Gibbs-White (from Wolves for €29.5m) or Taiwo Awoniyi (from Union Berlin for €20.5m) or the many prominent players signed by Olympiakos on a free transfer could very well generate a profit in the coming transfer windows. In England, Marinakis, who made his fortune as a shipowner, can also rely on the “Parachute Payments” (parachute payments), under which relegated clubs are financially supported by the other Premier League clubs for several more seasons. This allows promoters to take greater risks in the transfer market in order to stay in the Premier League by any means necessary without crashing too quickly in the worst case. The transfer market is high stakes poker and Marinakis appears to have gone all in. Whether he wins or loses remains to be seen. Either way, the seasons of Forest and Olympiakos will only get more dramatic this year.

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