Video: Joao Carvalho’s first interview as a Forest player
Nottingham Forest’s club-record signing Joao Carvalho and loanee Diogo Goncalves have both spoken in their first interviews as Reds.
The deal bringing both to the club was announced at 8pm on Thursday (June 14) with the fee for midfielder Carvalho thought to be in the £13m region.
He joined from the Primeira Liga runners-up (Portugal’s equivalent of the Premier League) having made seven appearances for Benfica’s senior side since 2015.
In his first interview, Carvalho said: “I am very proud to join this club, a great English club.
“In history, they have won two European Cups and I am very happy to be here – I want to help the club to get good results and hopefully to help the club get back to the Premier League.
“The fact Aitor Karanka is the coach played a big part – his teams play good football and that is very important for me.
“I hope with him, I can progress as a player and hopefully I can play well for him.
“In the beginning, I will need time to adapt to English football but I think that will happen during pre-season.
“I will be ready and adapted to football here to start at the top of my game.
“The responsibilities are the same – Benfica is a big team and the focus is to win and win titles.
“Here, it is a different level but Forest is a top team as well so the responsibilities are the same; to win week after week in order to finish the season with promotion to the Premier League.”
Video: Diogo Goncalves’ first interview as a Forest player
Nottingham Forest also announced the signing of forward Diogo Goncalves on loan from Benfica.
The highly-rated 21-year-old signed his first professional contract at Benfica in 2015 and scored 16 times in 86 appearances for Benfica B.
In October 2017, Goncalves made his UEFA Champions League debut where Benfica lost 1-0 at home to Manchester United.
And speaking in his first interview, Goncalves said: “I am very happy to come here and I am proud to join this club.
“I hope my football can improve here and help the club to get the best results as possible and hopefully the fans can get behind the team and help us to achieve it.
“I hope the fans will recognise that I am very hard working, every day, and that the results of that will show on the pitch on the weekend.
“Joao and I have played together since we were 11-years-old; we have always played in the same team and we know each other on the pitch very well and that has transferred off the pitch too.
“If we focus on the work, day-by-day, then I am sure that the results will come as is the expectation of the club.”
