“It surprised me” – Defender ‘upset’ with player’s sale to Nottingham Forest

Nikola Milenković has impressed since joining Nottingham Forest from Fiorentina in the summer window.

The 27-year-old has made seven Premier League appearances so far, and the Reds have lost once and conceded five goals in those fixtures.

Milenković spent seven years at the Serie A side before arriving at Nottingham Forest. In his first two years with La Viola, the centre-back played alongside Vincent Laurini.

Earlier this month, the 35-year-old fullback came out of retirement to join lower division Italian side Pietrasanta. Firenze Viola had a chat with the defender, and asked him about his former club’s decision to sell Milenković to Nuno Espírito Santo’s side.

Laurini was honest in admitting he didn’t expect Fiorentina to cash in from the Serbia international’s sale to Nottingham Forest.

“It surprised me. I would never have guessed it, after so many years that he was there as a leader of the defence,” he said.

“Selling him like this left me a little upset, he was a guy with a lot of experience and getting rid of him [is] so sad. Nikola is a strong player, and he fit in very well in Florence.”

The 1.95m central defender made 264 appearances in all competitions for the Italian club.

Last Wednesday, Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Stefano Agresti stated the player didn’t ‘explode’ at Fiorentina. Therefore, they shouldn’t have any regrets over selling him to the English club.

Two days later, Viola News suggested Fiorentina could be regretting their decision to let him leave in the last window.