Nottingham Forest now tracking £10m bargain buy who earns just £11k-p/w

Nottingham Forest now tracking £10m bargain buy who earns just £11k-p/w

Nottingham Forest are among the Premier League clubs tracking a Club Brugge star expected to leave Belgium this summer, it has been reported.

Forest battling for their Premier League lives

Having been docked four points for breaching the Premier League’s financial fair play regulations, Nuno Espirito Santo’s Nottingham Forest are flirting with relegation heading into the final games of the season.

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His time at the City Ground is rapidly coming to a close.

A 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, combined with wins for Luton Town and Everton, leaves Forest above the drop zone only on goal difference, while they sit two points behind Everton with the Toffees having played a game less.

Forest do have a somewhat favourable fixture list for the final six weeks of the season and their destiny remains in their own hands as they travel to Everton, Burnley and Sheffield United, knowing that three wins in those games will likely take them to safety even with the points deduction.

The Premier League relegation run in

Game no.

Nottingham Forest

Everton

Luton Town

32

N/A

Chelsea (H)

N/A

33

Wolves (H)

Forest (H)

Man City (A)

34

Everton (A)

Liverpool (H)

Brentford (H)

35

Man City (H)

Brentford (H)

Wolves (A)

36

Sheffield United (A)

Luton Town (A)

Everton (H)

37

Chelsea (H)

Sheffield United (H)

West Ham (A)

38

Burnley (A)

Everton (A)

Fulham (H)

They also face Chelsea, Manchester City and Wolves as they look to ensure their position in next season’s top flight, which could in turn lead to more spending in the summer.

Midfielder in the sights as Reds battle Everton and Palace

Now, the Midlands outfit have been credited with an interest in young midfielder Raphael Onyedika, who currently plies his trade with Club Brugge in Belgium’s top flight.

The 22-year-old plays mostly as a defensive midfielder, where Forest are already seemingly able to call upon Orel Mangala and Ibrahim Sangare, but Turkish outlet Cumhuriyet claims that they have joined the queue for the 22-year-old, who is also wanted by Everton, Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.

Though Onyedika is on an £11,000 per week contract until 2027, previous reports have claimed that “he will almost certainly leave Bruges” this summer as the club look to cash in on the Nigerian, and they have priced him between 10m and 15m euros (£8.5m-£12.8m).

There is already a strong Nigerian flavour running through the Forest starting XI with both Taiwo Awoniyi and Ola Aina representing the Super Eagles in the Premier League.

This season, Onyedika has managed a massive 2.61 tackles per 90 minutes, slightly fewer than Ryan Yates, and like Yates he is no stranger to the referees notebook. In fact, despite being just 22-years-old he has been booked a mammoth 60 times in his professional career already, with 55 of those coming at senior level and five coming this season.

With Forest already under scrutiny for financial fair play, is another tough-tackling defensive midfielder really what they need to improve on their current showing next season? They certainly seem to think so.