Nottingham Forest go into Sunday’s Premier League opener against Brentford on the back of a week of positive transfer news, but the situation is less promising for the visitors.
Brentford are trying to sign Dango Ouattara who scored a hat-trick for Bournemouth against Forest last season, but that looks to be a deal that is dependent on Bournemouth securing their replacement first.
The Ouattara deal is crucial for Brentford as they look to replace Bryan Mbeumo and the soon-to-depart Yoane Wissa, who won’t be a part of their travelling squad at the City Ground.
To make matters worse for new manager Keith Andrews, two more nailed-on starters are in doubt to feature on Sunday.
Brentford manager Keith Andrews ahead of a pre-season friendly with Borussia Moenchengladbach
Photo by Harry Murphy – Danehouse/Getty Images
Brentford could be without key stars against Nottingham Forest
Over on Trentside, things are looking positive as Forest are close to the signing of Arnaud Kalimuendo, who happened to be another of Brentford’s targets to replace Wissa.
It was widely expected that Wissa would play no part in proceedings on Sunday, but Andrews must be rueing his luck as he revealed that two more of his first-team stars could miss the Forest clash.
He told Brentford’s website: “Caoimhin [Kelleher] and Kevin Schade are back on the grass. Whether they will be absolutely ready we’ll see over the next day and a half, then we’ll make that decision.”
MORE FOREST STORIES
Both Schade and Kelleher were missing from Brentford’s final pre-season clash on Friday, so it remains to be seen whether the week’s training on the grass can help them be fit enough to feature against Forest, who will be significantly boosted by their absence.
Nottingham Forest came through pre-season unscathed
Forest had a particularly busy pre-season with seven games played as well as the training camp in Portugal, plenty of opportunity for players to pick up knocks while they return to match sharpness.
However, other than Ola Aina missing two games with a knock but subsequently returning to fitness, it seems as if the Forest squad will be at full strength going into Sunday.
Nuno Espírito Santo will be particularly pleased about this as the end of last season will still be strong in the memory, where the Reds lost the likes of Aina and Callum Hudson-Odoi to injuries that derailed momentum slightly.
Therefore, going into what is a winnable opening fixture on paper with a full-strength squad should help the Reds pick that momentum back up for the new campaign.