Nottingham Forest’s decision to sign Dilane Bakwa has been questioned, with a growing belief he’s now “money down the drain”.
Girondins 4 Ever cover comments from journalist Pierre Ménès on the Nottingham Forest winger today. He’s less than impressed with Nottingham Forest’s treatment of their summer signing.
The 23-year-old move to the City Ground in the summer, joining in a €35m deal from Racing Strasbourg. He had impressed at the French club, earning admirers after joining them in 2023.
But he’s barely been seen at Nottingham Forest this season. He’s managed just eight appearances in the Premier League to date, featuring in 16% of the available minutes so far. His total in all competitions is 19 games and 758 minutes.
Nottingham Forest player not in plans
He does not appear to be in their plans moving forward, with none of Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou nor Sean Dyche seemingly willing to give him his chance to impress.
That brings into question why Nottingham Forest signed him at all. The 23-year-old will certainly be questioning that as his career stalls somewhat this season.
Ménès is certainly unimpressed by the situation. He believes Nottingham Forest and English clubs in general needs to start taking a hard look at themselves.
“How can we explain his struggle to establish himself in the Premier League?” he said.
“I’d like to approach the problem from a slightly different angle, to ask why English clubs spend so much money on players only to show so little faith in them. Nottingham Forest spent €37 million on Dilane Bakwa and never played him… That’s money down the drain.
“At some point, English clubs also need to stop poaching players from Ligue 1 if they’re never going to trust the players they sign. Because I don’t think Dilane Bakwa has lost all his footballing ability by going there.
“It’s a little inexplicable, but it’s especially inexplicable on the part of English clubs, always spending money only to end up selling players off, ultimately losing a huge amount of money on these deals.
“Then again, you could also think that the bar might be set too high for the players, but still, I think Dilane Bakwa is more than capable of making a significant contribution to a team like Forest.”