According to rumors, Nottingham Forest made an attempt to sign Stefan Ortega during the January transfer window.
When the German was linked to a summer transfer to Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola made it clear that he did not want the player to leave City.
Despite the Sky Blues’ attempts to lock him down to a new deal, the 31-year-old ultimately chose to remain at the Etihad Stadium. However, a recent revelation implies that he is keen on moving somewhere to become a club’s number one.
It is reasonable to argue that the highly regarded goalie deserves more consistent playing time given that John Stones accurately called him a “incredible ‘keeper'”.
Nottingham Forest were interested in Stefan Ortega signing in January
Now, The Athletic have revealed that Nottingham Forest saw their interest in Stefan Ortega rejected in January.
The report states that clubs in the Premier League and across Europe were keen on signing Ortega.
It has also been claimed that the treble-winner is believed to be “very happy” at City and he could still sign a contract extension at the club.
The former Arminia Bieliefeld’s suitors and those within City believe he has improved as a goalkeeper, particularly in terms of his positioning.
One of the primary reasons why the 55,000-a-week (Sport Rac) man was attracted by the prospect of signing for Guardiola and Co. was to elevate his game.
It has also been stated that another motivation behind Stefan Ortega’s move to the club in 2022 was to work with Pep Guardiola and goalkeeping coach Xabi Mancisdor, which is why he rejected bigger offers to join other teams, such as Brentford, for instance.
Mancisdor spoke to Ortega ahead of his move to the Sky Blues and he was confident that he would improve him as a player.
No-brainer to have kept Stefan Ortega
One will assess whether Manchester City will be open to selling Stefan Ortega to clubs like Nottingham Forest if he is keen on an exit.
But the rationale behind selling Ortega in January would have made no sense from a City perspective.
Signing a quality understudy is a challenge for every club and replacing one as brilliant as Stefan Ortega and that too mid-season is perhaps even tougher.
As a result, City made the right call to have a hands-off approach when it came to their goalkeeping extraordinaire in January.
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