Vitor Pereira has arrived at Nottingham Forest as the club’s fourth permanent manager of the 2025/26 campaign, and that might just be good news for Lorenzo Lucca.
Lucca rejected other clubs to sign for Forest from Napoli, but so far, he’s managed just two appearances for the Reds under Sean Dyche.
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He wasn’t needed from the bench against Crystal Palace as Forest played the second half with 10-men but in the next match against Leeds, he came on and scored a consolation goal in a 3-1 defeat during his debut.
Against Wolves last time out, he missed an absolute sitter before being replaced by Igor Jesus on the hour, but given that he’s new to the Premier League, he will need a small settling-in period.
Now, there is hope that Pereira might actually be the perfect manager to get the very best out of Lucca at Forest…
Lorenzo Lucca in action for Nottingham Forest.
Photo by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images
Lorenzo Lucca might be the striker for Vitor Pereira
It’s always fascinating when a new manager comes into any club to see what they will actually do with the team and what changes they might make in the way of personnel and systems.
Pereira might not be able to utilise his trusted 3-4-3 system that he so often unleashed in his first season at Wolves straight away at Forest, but Lucca might become the team’s number one striker.
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At Wolves, Pereira’s preference was always a big man up top. He was responsible for the addition of 6ft 6in striker Tolu Arokodare in the summer, whilst last season he managed to get a solid tune out of Jorgen Strand Larsen.
It would perhaps be harsh to drop Igor Jesus for the Europa League clash, considering how good he’s been in the competition this season, but it will now be fascinating to see whether Lucca gets the nod to play ahead of him.
The challenge for Vitor Pereira when it comes to his strikers
Far too often under Sean Dyche, whoever played up top for Forest found themselves isolated and when they did get the ball, very few players were around them for a lay-off or to provide any real options.
Pereira will hope to change that, and hopefully, this appointment can see Forest revert to something similar to what the Reds did under Nuno Espirito Santo, who proved so successful at the City Ground last season.
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Forest have to give as much support as possible to the strikers, whether it’s Jesus or Lucca, and ultimately, that is the main challenge for Pereira, with the Reds struggling to score goals this season.
Lucca is only on loan at the City Ground, and he shouldn’t be dismissed because of his bad miss against Wolves, with a number of other players also missing good chances on the night.
Now, he might just prove to be the perfect striker for a Pereira system, and it’s up to him to showcase that.
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