Nottingham Forest had a stunning season during the 2024/25 campaign and managed to qualify for the UEFA Conference League.
The Reds flirted with the Champions League for most of the second half of the season, but a lack of squad depth saw the team run out of steam at the final hurdle.
It proved a successful season for a number of players, however, with Nikola Milenkovic claiming the Player of the Year award and Matz Sels earning a share of the Golden Glove accolade.
The Reds improved considerably on the season before, and Forest made Premier League history by becoming the first team to double their points tally.
Photo by Jon Hobley | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Photo by Jon Hobley | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane agree on Chris Wood
The striker bagged 20 goals in the Premier League and found himself behind Mohamed Salah, Erling Haaland and Alexander Isak in the race for the Golden Boot.
Wood cost Forest £15 million from Newcastle and not even his biggest supporters could have anticipated that he’d become the all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League era at the City Ground.
That is exactly what he’s done, however, and Rooney and Keane have both lauded him on the latest episode of the Stick to Football podcast.
Rooney said: “There’s Chris Wood. I like him, but I never saw him having the season that he’s had. It started last season, he scored a few, but I never saw it coming that he would score that many again.”
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Roy Keane concurred and added: “Agree, but it’s nice to see the old-fashioned centre-forwards coming back into the game.”
Igor Jesus will provide competition for Wood
Forest are set to sign Jesus, and it looks like a perfect signing for a number of reasons.
One of those is that the fact that he needs a settling-in period should allow Wood to continue as the first-choice talisman, at least at the start of the campaign.
Wood is 33-years-old and it was also going to come to a point where competition was required for his place and with Europe on the cards next season, Forest have acted quickly.
Wood has surprised people all season, quietly going about his business and scoring the goals to take Forest back into Europe.
Now, the challenge for him will be to do it for a third successive season and keep helping Forest progress as a Premier League football club.