Nottingham Forest failed to get a deal to sign Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta over the line during the January transfer window.
The Reds worked hard to bolster the squad up until the final hours of the deadline and managed to get three new players to the City Ground.
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Lorenzo Lucca signed for Forest from Napoli, with Stefan Ortega joining a few days before the deadline from Manchester City to add to the goalkeeping ranks.
Luca Netz completed the January business after checking in from Borussia Monchengladbach, with Mateta enduring a pretty rotten end to the window.
Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta
Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images
It looked for a while as though Mateta wanted to sign for Forest, but in the end, he opted for AC Milan instead.
Mateta has only recently returned to action after a knee problem and that ended his chances of leaving Selhurst Park in January, with Milan picking up a complication during his medical.
Now, with Mateta deliberating whether to have surgery, journalist Miguel Delaney has shared why the Frenchman didn’t choose Forest in the end.
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Delaney said on the On the Continent Podcast: “I was told a story last week that Forest were willing to kind of basically offer much higher wages than either of the Italian clubs.
“That’s the sort of thing that would have been unimaginable 20 years ago. But he wanted Italy, and he wanted to play in essentially a Champions League club or of that level, to you know be at the sort of stage that would more likely bring a World Cup call up”
Forest should forget Mateta in the summer
Mateta would have been a very useful signing for Forest in the January window, but with problems over his knee, the club should move on in the summer.
A proper replacement for Chris Wood will be sought in the off-season, and hopefully, a new striker can be added with Forest remaining as a Premier League club.
Mateta clearly held a snobbish view of potentially signing for Forest, and players of that nature are clearly not right for Forest going forward.
It’s hard to knock a 28-year-old wanting to play for a club that will likely be in the Champions League next season, especially with the World Cup on the horizon.
If the Premier League status is secured, it’s imperative that Forest go and get a top striker, but the chances of signing Mateta should now cease.
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