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EPL Jota Silva is now on loan at Besiktas Abdullah Guclu/Anadolu via Getty Images Back in August, it was business as usual on the Nottingham Forest training ground. Sessions were short, sharp and meticulously prepared. Nuno Espirito Santo and his coaching staff’s demeanour did not alter. But, as the month progressed, when training finished, the Forest players would be quick to check their phones and turn up the volume on the television. Advertisement Jota Silva knew it was going to be a summer of change for him, as he hoped to join Sporting CP in his home country of Portugal (where Forest tonight face Braga in the Europa League) — but he was not prepared for the tide of change that was to engulf the club. Nuno had begun complaining in private about Forest’s recruitment in July, by August, he had questioned his relationship with the newly appointed global head of football, Edu, and club owner Evangelos Marinakis. Among fans and the media, there was a sense that it might be the beginning of the end. “We are human, so we felt that too. We felt that some problems were there, ” Jota, who is on loan at Turkish club Besiktas, tells The Athletic. “When there are things in the news, when you read about Nuno (potentially) going… it is normal that players understand that something might happen. You do not know when… but you start to realise. Outside of the pitch, we understood… “When you got to the club every day, you did not know what was going to happen. After training, you would come back in and then you would check. “It is always the same, on some level, in the transfer window at every club. As a player, you are always waiting for news. At Forest, it was a little different. It was: ‘Will there be a surprise today? ’. No? OK, let’s get on with things. ” Jota — who joined Forest in a £5. 9million move from Vitoria de Guimaraes in August 2024 — expected to be on his way out. Sporting had made their interest in the winger known and, as Forest began to sign fellow wide men like Dan Ndoye, Omari Hutchinson and Dilane Bakwa, Jota sensed it was time to move. “I spoke with Nuno and he helped. It was never about the club or the place. Forest did buy some players in my position and I think you know me well enough… I like to play, I like to feel important; to contribute, ” he says. “I had an opportunity to go back to my country, to fight for titles. It was a good option. ” However, it did not work out that way. Advertisement Forest and Sporting had reached an agreement over a £3. 9m loan deal, with an option to make the move permanent for £13. 5m, at around 11pm on deadline day, an hour before the Portuguese deadline. But the deal collapsed because of key paperwork being filed too late with the Portuguese FA. “It felt a few times like it was almost done. But it was changing day by day. It finished in the worst way. To miss out on a transfer by one minute, it is tough. “Now I do not have problems with Forest or Sporting… but I will not lie. It was difficult. When I received the call to say that the paperwork was not on time… my world went ‘boom’. But the next day, I woke up at 8am and I went to training. My team-mates helped me. “I stayed quiet and did not speak, because in the moment, you can say things with emotion. ” On September 12, Jota left Forest to join Besiktas. He enjoys life in Istanbul, barring the ‘insane’ traffic and would be happy if the move was made permanent. If that does not happen, he has two years left on his Forest contract. “I found Besiktas and I want to be here. I can play, I can show my football. I am happy, ” says Jota, who has made 10 appearances, scoring two goals. “You can feel the team has something. I feel the same as I felt at Forest — we fight until the end. If you are a dog on the pitch, you always have a chance. ” Jota hopes his performances will help put him on the radar of Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez before the World Cup and that he can add to his two caps. “If I play with the fight, I know I can, the bare minimum is that the coach will know my name. If he chooses me, that is down to him. ” Jota looks back fondly on the five starts and 27 sub appearances he made in the Premier League with Forest, which saw him score three goals — including the final strikes in a 7-0 home win over Brighton & Hove Albion and a 4-2 victory at Ipswich Town. Advertisement “The bond we had was amazing. I loved my team-mates. What we created last year was very special, ” he says. “I don’t think that has changed, because with the people we had there would not let it. When you are in the Forest dressing room, you want to stay in there for hours. Ola (Aina) doing his (social media) videos, Callum (Hudson-Odoi) always dancing… everything was perfect. I speak to a lot of them still. Nico (Dominguez) is like family. “When Matz Sels was nominated for the best goalkeeper award at the Ballon d’Or, I joked with him that he was one of the best in the world and he would no longer want to speak to me… he messaged today and I need to answer him, I know he will be on me, telling me, ‘You have money now, you never call…’ “The key to everything was the atmosphere in the dressing room. Everyone gave something every day. You know when you make a puzzle and every piece is like ‘boom’ (makes gesture of joining his hands together). The coaches were part of that too: they told us every day, ‘We know you can do this, we know you can compete against any team in the league, if we are together’. ” Jota had only a handful of training sessions under Ange Postecoglou, after he had replaced Nuno in September. The former Tottenham Hotspur head coach lasted only eight games. Jota has watched from afar since and been surprised to see Forest’s struggle. But he sees positives in the 0-0 draw against Arsenal on Saturday and thinks things can be turned around under Sean Dyche. “When you do something as special as we did, the people start to think: ‘We can do something even better now, ’” says Jota. “Sometimes it is not like that. Pieces can change. When you change coaches, things cannot be stable. “But I saw the game against Arsenal on television — it was like watching the team from last season. It is not just about quality, that is not what I am talking about. It is about attitude. Advertisement “Murillo was cutting out balls again, Matz made great saves, Neco (Williams) just went all the way, Nico Dominguez — he was everywhere. Morgan (Gibbs-White), Nikola (Milenkovic), Ola is back… I cannot speak positively enough about Elliot (Anderson), he is just a diamond. Forest have everything; they have the players. “The word that described us last year: it was ‘family’. I fight for my family. That is what we all felt. This is Forest. If they can put that on the pitch again — as they did against Arsenal — Forest can have a strong finish to the season. The bond now is coming back, under him (Dyche). When you are tight together, it will be difficult to beat Forest again. ” Nottingham Forest writer for The Athletic.

Previously spent 25 years at the Nottingham Post.

Unsurprisingly, Nottingham born and bred. Meet me by the left lion. Follow Paul on Twitter @nottmtails