Club Brugge have identified Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels as one of two top transfer targets for the summer.
Simon Mignolet has been their No.1 since joining from Liverpool in 2019. On Thursday, the 38-year-old announced his decision to retire at the end of this season.
This has seen the Jupiler Pro League side look for options and Nottingham Forest man has emerged as a target.
Sels arrived at the City Ground from RC Strasbourg in January 2024, when Nuno Espírito Santo was in charge.
The stopper quickly became the first choice under the Portuguese and starred last season, keeping 13 clean sheets and conceded 46 goals from 38 league matches. He also won the Premier League Golden Glove [for most clean sheets] award.
Sels attracted interest last summer and had then revealed the Reds blocked his exit.
Nottingham Forest have struggled in the league this season and it has also impacted the Belgium international’s form. His Premier League stats are as follows:
Appearances: 24
Starts: 23
Goals conceded: 31
Clean sheets: 7
Saves per game: 2.8
Nottingham Forest transfer is difficult
Club Brugge chairman Bart Verhaeghen hailed the former Liverpool man as a “legend, an icon.” At the same time, he insisted on Thursday that his side will bring in an adequate replacement for Simon Mignolet.
Het Laatste Nieuws relays Verhaeghen’s comments and explain it won’t be an easy task to replace Mignolet.
The Belgian club have to look for a profile similar to that of the current stopper and have identified two top targets: Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels and Al-Qadsiah’s Koen Casteels.
These two players have the qualities to take over from Mignolet next season, but a potential summer move is complicated.
Casteels earns €10m per year in Saudi Arabia, which the Jupiler Pro League side’ can’t match. The finances could also be a factor to try and sign Sels.
In addition to this, it’ll be difficult to convince the 34-year-old to leave the No.1 spot at the Premier League side for Club Brugge. It isn’t tempting enough sporting wise.
In short, Sels and Casteels are top targets to replace Mignolet but very difficult transfers to pull off. Should Nottingham Forest be relegated, the situation would obviously be very different.
Contract, value and agent info
Matz Sels has less than 18 months left on his Nottingham Forest contract. Transfermarkt value him at €4m, which is half of his highest value of €8m in December 2029.
Cherry Sports, owned by Belgian agent Kristof Vandersmissen, manage the Nottingham Forest player.
EXCLUSIVE: Mathías Olivera
🚨 Nottingham Forest still trying for Napoli player
➡️ Changes at #NFFC haven’t impacted interest
🔼 Premier League stay key to successful transferhttps://t.co/f51ZV1MFiv #SSCNapoli
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) March 27, 2026