The Colombian midfielder Gustavo Puerta was officially hired by Nottingham Forest, which paid the 16 million euros release clause to Racing Santander. However, in a lightning operation, the player was immediately loaned to Olympiacos until the end of the season, thus being linked to the Greek club.
The player was on Benfica's radar to strengthen the team's midfield, emerging as a potential successor to Richard Ríos. The agent Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Olympiacos and also of Nottingham Forest, diverted the Colombian international to Greece through this operation between the two clubs.
Marinakis himself had previously guaranteed that Puerta only wanted to go to Benfica, meaning the athlete's only goal was to head to the Estádio da Luz. This guarantee ended up being contradicted by the final outcome of the negotiation.
With this outcome, Benfica is left without the signing they wanted for the midfield, losing Puerta to the Greek side Olympiacos, who will have the player until the end of the current season.
