Evangelos Marinakis in talks to buy Vasco da Gama and lines up ex-Arsenal director Edu for key role

Evangelos Marinakis, the Greek billionaire owner of Nottingham Forest, is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the historic Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, which would likely yield a key role for the former Arsenal sporting director Edu Gaspar.

The Forest owner is building a global multi-club group, including his original acquisition, Olympiacos, historically Greece’s most successful club; Forest and the top-flight Portuguese club Rio Ave. Vasco da Gama, from Rio de Janeiro, were previously controlled by 777 Partners, the US investors who sought to add Everton to their multi-club group before their financial model collapsed this year.

Edu’s departure from Arsenal was announced last month with the Brazilian, a Premier League winner as a player at the club, having accepted an unspecified role with Marinakis’s investment group. The Greek shipping magnate has been looking at various investment possibilities, including in the Italian Serie A club Monza.

Under the control of 777 Partners, Vasco da Gama were promoted back to the Brazilian top flight in 2022, but the US investment group has been unable to sustain its financial model. The group is now under the control of the US insurance giant A-Cap, its biggest creditor, and the clubs are being sold.

Under Marinakis, Forest have had some success in signing Brazilian players, most notably Murillo and Danilo, who both arrived from Brazilian clubs. There has been a rush for ownership of Brazilian clubs from big European investment groups since the Brazilian government passed laws in 2021 that allowed clubs to transform their member-owned models into traded companies and effectively re-capitalise by being sold into private hands.

The City Football Group, of which Manchester City are the flagship, acquired the famous Salvador club EC Bahia. The Red Bull ownership group acquired and renamed CA Bragantino, now Red Bull Bragantino, based in Sao Paulo. The great Ronaldo – the 2002 World Cup-winning striker – has invested in a consortium that took control of Cruzeiro, in Belo Horizonte. John Textor, the US investor who has a stake in Crystal Palace as well as control of Lyon in France, has acquired Botafogo, from Rio de Janeiro.

Club ownership in Brazil gives advantages in the market for talent there, as well as a stake in a potential boom in the rights market for the domestic game. Philippe Coutinho, 32, is currently at Vasco, on loan from Aston Villa. Another ageing great at Vasco is Dimitri Payet, 37. The Rio club were last Brazilian champions 24 years ago.