Nottingham Forest should be in a good place going into the January transfer window, but they still have some key decisions to make.
Smart business done in the summer has paid off for the Reds. Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was left with a strong squad, and back-to-back defeats have done little to take the shine off a fine start to the season.
Nevertheless, Forest will know as well as anyone that teams cannot afford to stand still in the Premier League. They do not need to make too many signings in January, but they will still be looking to strengthen.
Whether they do so between the posts, though, remains to be seen. Adding another goalkeeper was firmly on the cards in the summer, but it doesn’t necessarily follow that the club will take the same stance in the new year.
Nuno currently has two - rather than the usual three - senior stoppers in his squad, in Matz Sels and summer arrival Carlos Miguel. The Reds tried to bolster their ranks further towards the end of the summer window, including trying to bring in Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher, but didn’t manage to get a deal over the line.
They now face a decision over whether to return to the market when the window reopens. It is quite the dilemma.
Sels has been in excellent form this term. He was up for Premier League Player of the Month for October but lost out to teammate Chris Wood. Even in Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal, he did his best to keep the visitors in the game for as long as possible with some decent saves.
Nuno changed his first-choice keeper midway through last term, when Sels joined from Strasbourg, so is not afraid of undertaking a reshuffle when the season is already up and running. But it is a big call to make, and there is no need to make the change as things stand. Indeed, having a settled defensive unit has been a big factor in Forest’s good start.
If the plan isn’t to change the No.1, that would mean any January addition would be left watching from the sidelines for most of the second half of the campaign. And Nuno already has a job on his hands trying to keep Miguel happy amid a lack of game time. Indeed, the Portuguese has recently promised his No.2 that “opportunities are coming”.
The potential for injuries must be taken into account, though. The Reds will not want to be left short of cover were Sels or Miguel to find themselves out of action for any length of time.
Forest will also know that by the summer, other clubs might have come circling for their targets. There is talk of Chelsea plotting a swoop for Kelleher at the end of the season, for example.
When he was asked about his goalkeeper situation before the summer window closed, Nuno said: “What you want for your goalkeepers is stability. When you do not speak about your goalkeepers, it is a good sign.”
As a former keeper himself, the 50-year-old understands the value of continuity in that position. Given it is an area the Reds clearly have designs on strengthening at some point, though, the dilemma is whether to do so now or to wait a few more months.
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