Nuno Espirito Santo Targets Immediate Return To Management As Multiple Serie A Sides Show Interest In Former Nottingham Forest Coach

Nuno Espirito Santo is reportedly keen on an immediate return to management following his Nottingham Forest departure and could make a move to Serie A.

Why Did Nottingham Forest Sack Nuno Espirito Santo?

The Portuguese coach parted ways with Nottingham Forest after a very public fallout with the clubs’ owner, Evangelos Marinakis, as the two failed to repair a broken relationship.

A sense of discomfort between the two became apparent during the end of the 2024/25 season, as Marinakis entered the pitch to berate the Nottingham Forest manager after missing out on Champions League qualification.

Despite this, Espirito Santo was handed a new contract during the summer after Forest qualified for the 2025/26 Europa League and surprised multiple supporters.

However, before the new campaign got underway, Espirito Santo admitted that his squad was very unbalanced and a week later, the 51-year-old claimed that his relationship with Marinakis was ‘not the same’.

The problems between the two became very clear as the weeks progressed and led to Nuno Espirito Santo being made surplus to requirements – despite his 2024/25 performance.

During his time in Nottingham, Espirito Santo managed 73 games across all competitions, winning 28, drawing 20 and losing 25, boasting a 38.4% win rate.

Marinakis will now be looking for an immediate replacement as Forest prepare for a campaign with European soccer and the club are reportedly close to appointing former Spurs boss, Ange Postecoglou.

Espirito Santo joins a list of managers that received their marching orders in recent weeks, joining Erik ten Hag, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The former was dismissed by Bayer Leverkusen after just two league matches and Ten Hag has now been linked with a new role in Serie A to help rebuild his reputation.

Moving to Italy is not out of the question for Espirito Santo, who is reportedly looking to make an immediate return to management and is willing to go outside of the Premier League.

Will Nuno Espirito Santo Manage In Serie A?

The 51-year-old started his career as a goalkeeping coach, after a strong playing career in-between the sticks for the likes of Porto, Osasuna and Dinamo Moscow.

However, in July 2012 Espirito Santo took his first managerial role with Rio Ave, before going on to take the reins at Valencia, Porto, Wolves, Tottenham, Al Ittihad and Forest.

Santo has won three pieces of silverware as a manager so far, winning the EFL Championship title with Wolves in 2017/18, before winning the Saudi Pro League and Saudi Super Cup with Al Ittihad.

Now, the former Wolves boss has a decision to make regarding his future, as multiple clubs will be ready to make an offer after Santo’s impressive season with Forest.

One possible option could be a move to Italy, as the 51-year-old has never managed in Serie A and may be looking to broaden his horizons outside of the Premier League.

Inter, Napoli, Atalanta and Juventus found out their Champions League fixtures on August 28th and Santo is said to be interested in managing a team that qualified for Europe’s elite competition.

However, each of the top four bar Napoli all appointed new permanent managers for the 2025/26 campaign, meaning Santo may have to wait for a deal with an elite Italian side.

Atalanta have made a slightly underwhelming start to their league campaign, picking up just two points from two matches and Ivan Juric could come under pressure if results do not improve.