Nottingham Forest will compete in European football for the first time in 30 years next season, with the City Ground set to host UEFA Conference League football.
Being UEFA’s third-tier competition, Ryan Yates thinks Forest can go far in the Conference League, with Premier League sides having a strong recent history in the tournament.
Through qualifying for European football, Forest are expected to see a huge revenue boost from the combination of prize money and extra ticket and commercial revenue associated with playing in Europe, giving Nuno Espírito Santo a financial base to tackle the Conference League head-on.
With that in mind, here are three tasks that the Forest manager can move quickly on to set his side up for success in the Conference League.
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Find competition for Chris Wood
Harry Redknapp hailed Chris Wood for his old-school style of play this season, leading to 20 Premier League goals. However, at 33 years old, Forest cannot solely rely on the Kiwi international for goals on Thursday nights as well as in the league.
Therefore, one of Nuno’s top priorities should be to find an alternative to Wood, with plenty of names already linked. Forest are keen on Mohamed Amoura, whilst Liam Delap is also on the radar but looks more likely to join Manchester United at this stage.
Nottingham Forest's all-time top scorer in the Premier League is here to stay until 2027! 🔝
Enjoy all 14 of Chris Wood's goals this season 🌳 pic.twitter.com/fi2YJ4zR7F
— Premier League (@premierleague) January 23, 2025
View Tweet
What’s important when tackling continental football is not to be overly distracted by either the League or Europe, so having options up front to cover both will be crucial.
MORE FOREST STORIES
Solve the Ramon Sosa problem
Forest are open to selling Ramon Sosa after just one season at the club, where he made only one Premier League start.
It seems that Sosa prefers to remain in Europe after rejecting a move to Palmeiras, but if Forest are to sell the Paraguayan, his place in the squad would need filling for the Conference League.
Without European football, the Forest squad would probably cope just fine without Sosa, but these squad players could become crucial with the extra games, so if he is sold, Evangelos Marinakis will need to be ready to sign another wide player to fill the back-up role.
Ease the burden on Murillo
Murillo started the final two games of the Premier League season, but all signs pointed to him fighting through injury rather than being fully fit.
Espírito Santo confirmed that Murillo had twisted his ankle against West Ham, but the Brazilian played on and then played against Chelsea, too. If this were a Conference League week, though, Murillo wouldn’t have a full week to rest between these injuries.
If Morato cannot be trusted in these crucial moments, perhaps Forest could do with signing a defender who can be, to ease the pressure on Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic as the Reds look noticeably weaker without their preferred pair.