Nottingham Forest could now be offered an Inter Milan star in exchange for Dan Ndoye in a swap deal, according to reports from Italy.
Forest's campaign remains one of English football's most compelling stories.
Three points above the Championship trapdoor, yet simultaneously preparing for a Europa League quarter-final against Porto on April 9.
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Vitor Pereira's side have been held together by a collective defiance that produced a stunning 3-0 win at Tottenham before the international break.
However, beneath the resilience lies an uncomfortable truth — some of their summer recruits have not delivered what was hoped, and the summer ahead will demand serious rethinking regardless of which division they inhabit.
Few arrivals have disappointed quite so quietly as Ndoye.
The 25-year-old Swiss winger joined from Bologna on July 31 last year, signing a five-year deal after an outstanding campaign in Serie A.
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He was once a concrete target for the Blues.
He arrived with a reputation for directness, pace and an ability to score big goals in big moments. Ndoye scored on his Premier League debut in August, a 3-1 victory over Brentford — and then, to a large extent, faded from the picture.
An injury midway through 25/26 disrupted his early momentum, and the arrival of Pereira as manager appears to have further reduced his role.
He has made 23 Premier League appearances this season, largely as a late substitute, accumulating just 1 goal and 1 assist from over 1,000 minutes of top flight football, and both of those contributions came within the first week of the season.
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The frustration boiled over during the international break in the most transparent way.
Speaking to Swiss broadcaster RTS after he scored Switzerland's opening goal in a thrilling 4-3 win over Germany, Ndoye was asked about his lack of playing time in Nottingham.
"Why don't I play at Nottingham?" he replied with evident sarcasm.
"I ask myself the same thing."
To Sport Mediaset, meanwhile, he was more measured on the subject of his future, saying he was thinking only of finishing the season and that things would become clearer at the end of the year — but crucially, he declined to rule anything out.
That combination of public frustration and diplomatic non-commitment has seemingly caught the eye in Milan.
Nottingham Forest could be offered Davide Frattesi in Dan Ndoye swap deal
According to Italian outlet InterLive.it, Inter Milan could look to open discussions with Forest over a possible swap deal involving their marginalised midfielder Davide Frattesi — a move that would see Ndoye head in the opposite direction.
Italy's Davide Frattesi in action
Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio is described as a long-standing admirer of Ndoye, having tracked him for some time.
Frattesi's potential exit, meanwhile, is one of the worst-kept secrets in European football this summer.
The 26-year-old Italian has found life under Cristian Chivu even more difficult than under Simone Inzaghi before him.
A hernia operation at the start of the pre-season robbed him of vital preparation time, and with Hakan Calhanoglu, Nicolo Barella and Henrikh Mkhitaryan entrenched in the starting XI, and both Petar Sucic and Piotr Zielinski also ahead of him in the pecking order, Frattesi's involvement has been limited with zero goals and zero assists.
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Forest held talks to sign Frattesi in January, and now that chance could be reopening in the form of a player-exchange.
The ex-Sassuolo star's City Ground move allegedly fell apart because Liverpool refused to sanction a loan for Curtis Jones, the other component of the package, according to Inter Live.
With the summer now approaching, the Italian outlet suggests Ausilio could let Frattesi leave and propose Ndoye joining the Nerazzurri.
For Forest, the appeal of Frattesi is obvious — a 'quality' box-to-box midfielder with Champions League pedigree, a scorer of big goals and a player who has simply been buried by circumstance.
The caveat, as with everything at the Tricky Trees right now, is survival.
InterLive.it are explicit on this point: the deal will only be possible if Forest avoid relegation.
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The Tricky Trees are attempting to get a new recruit already.