Nottingham Forest are going to need to hit the transfer market pretty aggressively, with the club preparing to make a key sale.
Anthony Elanga is heading to Newcastle, and that means the Forest squad is significantly weaker than it was 12 months ago.
Forest qualified for the UEFA Conference League last season, and Nuno Espirito Santo must be given the tools to work with when it comes to fighting in four different competitions.
Igor Jesus has already signed for Forest from Botafogo, but he will need to be joined by more quality, with Elanga now set for a medical in the North East.
Ramon Sosa has also agreed to leave Forest, and in the wide areas of the pitch, there are now some major gaps to plug.
Jack Grealish sits on the bench for Manchester City
Photo by Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Nottingham Forest enter Jack Grealish race
Grealish is bringing the curtain down on his time at Manchester City after just 20 appearances in the Premier League during last season.
City are having a rejig of their playing personnel and Grealish is going to be a fall guy, with Caught Offside now claiming that he’s on the radar of Forest.
Everton are also loitering in the background regarding Grealish, whilst Tottenham and Newcastle are also desperately keen to sign him this summer.
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Naturally, given that he earns around £300,000-a-week in wages, clubs from Saudi Arabia are also looking to flex their ambition, although Grealish is thought to favour staying in Europe.
What Rio Ferdinand and Pep Guardiola said about Jack Grealish
It’s quite sad to see how things have worked out for Grealish at City and as a result, Forest could at least offer the versatile forward European football next season.
A loan deal does feel more viable with his wages likely to rule out most teams in the Premier League from signing him permanently.
Back in 2023, Ferdinand called Grealish ‘unplayable‘ after a Champions League clash against RB Leipzig and at times, the player does have that in his locker.
Grealish doesn’t have the raw pace of Elanga, but given the freedom to play in a similar role to the speed demon, he could unpick some locks in the final third for the Reds.
One of Grealish’s better games for City last season actually came against Forest when Pep Guardiola called him ‘quality’ after a 3-0 win over the Reds in December.