Nottingham Forest have a big couple of months ahead as they aim to finish the season in style, but the club will already have one eye on an important summer transfer window.
January proved to be a quiet month at the City Ground, with very few ins and outs for the Reds. But there was still no shortage of transfer talk as a number of players were linked with moves Trentside.
Indeed, some of them reportedly remain on the club’s radar as attention turns to bolstering head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s resources at the end of the campaign. With that in mind, we take a look at how a number of Forest’s key winter targets have been getting on since the window closed.
Yoane Wissa
Brentford boss Thomas Frank took a firm stance over the front man when the Reds came circling earlier this year. A bid, said to be in the region of £18-22 million, was rebuffed as the Bees were determined to hang on to their star man.
It would come as no surprise to see Forest try their luck with Wissa again in the summer. The 28-year-old remains a key figure for Brentford and has continued to be a steady scorer since the winter transfer window closed.
Igor Jesus
Reports from Brazil suggested the Reds made an offer to Botafogo for the forward in January. However, the player himself was said to have turned down a move to the City Ground as he felt staying put was best for his career.
It hasn’t exactly gone to plan for the 24-year-old since then. Earlier this week, Brazilian publications BolaVIP and Globo published articles analysing Jesus’ “quiet” 2025 so far. The former spoke about a “drop in performance”. Both publications debated whether last month’s appointment of Renato Paiva as manager could hold the key to getting the striker back on track.
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Douglas Luiz
Before the February 3 deadline, it was claimed the Reds were battling with Manchester City to sign the Juventus midfielder. In the end, he remained in Italy but it didn’t take long for speculation about his future to start back up.
The Brazilian continues to mostly be used in a substitutes’ role by Juve. As a result, there has been plenty of talk about a potential return to England for the former Aston Villa man.
City are said to remain keen and it has been reported Villa would be willing to take him back. Newcastle United are also said to be in the mix amid a mooted £33m price tag being placed on Luiz’s head.
Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli was coy when asked recently whether he “regrets” shelling out more than £40m to sign the 26-year-old last summer. He said: “You have to evaluate these things at the end of the season. There are 12 games to go, many players showed their value here, others did not reflect what they’ve done in the past, but we remain convinced they will show their quality at Juventus.”
Nasser Djiga
Defence wasn’t an area Forest particularly needed to strengthen before the winter window closed, but that didn’t stop them being linked with Djiga. However, it was Wolverhampton Wanderers who snapped up the centre-back before the cut-off.
The 22-year-old joined the West Midlands outfit on deadline day from Red Star Belgrade for a reported £10m. He penned a deal until 2030 at Molineux but has been short on opportunities so far as he continues to adjust to English football. He did not make his full debut for the club until almost a month after his arrival, being named in the starting XI against Bournemouth in the FA Cup a couple of weeks ago.
Yuri Alberto
Despite talk of Forest plotting a £19m bid for the Corinthians striker in January, nothing materialised before the winter window closed. However, the 23-year-old striker has continued to get among the goals since then and attention has now turned to what might happen in the summer.
Reports have suggested the Reds are among a number of sides to have been in touch with Alberto’s agent. West Ham United, Wolves, Bournemouth, Fulham and Inter Milan have also been credited with an interest. It seems a reported €100m (£84m) release clause is not putting off his admirers.
Richard Rios
The Reds were first linked with the Palmeiras midfielder last summer and were then said to be eyeing him up again in January. Forest were said to have watched the 24-year-old a lot but strengthening in the centre of the pitch was not exactly a priority at the time.
Come the summer, however, it might be a different matter. Alongside the Reds, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham have been touted as potential suitors. Rios is said to have the same value release clause in his contract as Alberto, although reports have suggested it would take a fee of less than that to prise him away.
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