Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have signed 13 players this summer to compete in Europe and the Premier League
Days after a comprehensive 3-0 defeat to the worst team in the league would seem a strange time to crown Nottingham Forest as the winners of the summer transfer window, but the next nine months are set to tell a very different story.
Only three Premier League teams have filled as many holes as reliably as Nottingham Forest, the others being Arsenal and Sunderland, but the Tricky Trees have strengthened their squad more than Mikel Arteta’s side (they simply had more room to improve) while it remains to be seen whether the Championship play-off winners have done enough to survive.
And while Liverpool obviously had the most explosive window, more questions remain over the squad - can Slot stitch such a star-studded team together, have they adequately compensated for losing Trent Alexander-Arnold’s creativity and will their pair of British-record signings justify their eye-watering nine-figure transfer fees.
Yes, the Morgan Gibbs-White saga was confusing, yes Evangelos Marinakis’ medalling in the day-to-day running of the club is potentially catastrophic, yes Nuno Espirito Santo’s rumoured departure would be catastrophic and yes if they’d pulled their Crystal Palace stunt in secondary school they would’ve got stitches.
Forest can surpass groundbreaking 2024/25 at home and abroad
Simply put, Nottingham Forest have upgraded their strongest XI in the areas that most desperately required improvement, and provided more cover in the areas that didn’t.
The arrivals of Igor Jesus, Arnaud Kalimuendo and John Victor are perfect examples of long-term planning to replace aging players as both can rotated in for Chris Wood and Matz Sels to gradually acclimatise from the Brasileiro Campeonato to the Premier League with little pressure for immediate results - a sure sign that a club is well-run.
Of the 13 new arrivals at the City Ground, only Dan Ndoye needs to get up to speed and slot straight into the starting side, and he’s taken to English football like a duck to water.
Ndoye’s goal and assist to kick off the season indicate he’s more than capable of filling the hole left by Anthony Elanga, Forest’s only headline departure, and if he continues at this rate he’ll have equalled the Swede’s Premier League goal contributions tally from last campaign before 2026. Plus, Forest turned a profit of £20 million with that switch.
Ndoye is competing for starts in the attacking three behind Wood, Kalimuendo or Jesus with Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Jota Silva, Omari Hutchinson, James McAtee and Dilane Bakwa, the latter trio having arrived for around £100m combined and Ibrahim Sangare and Douglas Luiz have reinforced another area of strength, central midfield.
Elliot Anderson has been rewarded for his continued excellence with a first call-up to the England squad and it’s a sign of Forest’s strength across the starting XI that neither he, Gibbs-White, or Wood won the club’s player of the season award. Instead, Nikola Milenkovic scooped up the gong and he’s reprised his all-conquering partnership with Murillo while Jair Cunha offers improved back-up having signed from Botafogo.
Cunha was the third player who started for Botafogo in their famous 1-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain at the Club World Cup while Cuiabano was an important figure in Big Fire’s rearguard action in the final 20 minutes as a substitute.
Cuiabano was part of a busy last 72 hours of the transfer window that cemented Forest as sovereigns of the summer. With the Tricky Trees requiring cover at full-back, Cuiabano, Nicolo Savona and Oleksandr Zinchenko are all quality additions blending youth and experience who tick the final boxes remaining on Edu’s shopping list.
Core of Forest’s squad remains survives after magical 2024/25
Just as important as the stars Forest have signed are the stalwarts they haven’t lost. Excluding Elanga, who was Forest’s ninth most-used player in 2024/25, their 17 outgoing combined for 48 Premier League appearances (1,679 minutes equivalent to 18 full games)
Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Neco Williams, Matz Sels and Ola Aina all signed contract extensions meaning they’ll each remain at the City Ground for a minimum of two years while of Forest’s 11 most-used players in the top flight last season Sels and Wood are the only players who don’t have deals running until at least 2028.
Given that pair will be 35 by the time their contracts expire that’s no cause for concern, while Wood has banished any concerns that he wouldn’t manage to recreate his 2024/25 form this season.
The Kiwi actually ended last season on something of a whimper, scoring twice from mid-February onwards in all competitions, but he equalled that tally on the opening day of this campaign and he looked equally sharp against Crystal Palace. And any worries that Gibbs-White would be distracted after his confusing summer have proved equally short-lived.
So if there’s continuity in the dugout, there’s no reason that Nottingham Forest can’t continue their upwards trajectory despite the added workload of a Europa League campaign, having noticeably improved their squad and equipped themselves to fight on two fronts this summer.
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