Nottingham Forest’s transfer policy in chaos as Steve Cooper not in sync with owner Evangelos Marinakis
FOREST getting promoted back to the Prem has been the feel-good story of the summer.
But behind the scenes the situation appears chaotic.
Boss Steve Cooper and his staff do not seem to be completely in sync with owner Evangelos Marinakis and his recruitment policy.
Nottingham Forest have snapped up Dean Henderson on loan plus Taiwo Awoniyi (£17.2million), Neco Williams (£17m), Orel Mangala (12.75m), Moussa Niakhate (£10m), Omar Richards (£10m), Harry Toffolo and Lewis O’Brien (joint £10m deal), Giulian Biancone (£5m), Wayne Hennessey (free) and Jesse Lingard (free).
Staggeringly, it appears Forest have put in offers for up to 30 players, while leaving many of those transfers hanging in the balance.
SunSport spoke to sporting directors at other teams who claimed when they tried to sign a player, the selling club said Forest had already got there first.
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But if the deals are not completed, which seems the case, the whole transfer merry- go-round becomes confusing.
Marinakis, who also owns Olympiakos in Greece, has a team of agents working tirelessly to strengthen the squad.
But there seems to be little actual plan behind all the attempted signings.
You cannot accuse Forest of not having a go — but look what happened to Fulham when they spent £100m in 2018.
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Meanwhile, Forest are turning to Lee Charnley, one of ex-Newcastle owner Mike Ashley’s closest allies, for some Prem experience.
Though not full-time, he will work on the business side.
LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
JULES BREACH and Hugh Woozencroft are doing a great job as the new faces of ITV Sport’s EFL coverage.
Presenting these near two-hour shows with so many highlights packages and different topics of conversation with the pundit must be tricky. Particularly because each show is filmed live.
WEMBLEY WAIT
WEMBLEY is to trial 1,784 seats fitted with a safety rail — but there might NOT be safe standing at the stadium this season.
Brentford, QPR and Wolves are joining Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Cardiff by introducing safe standing this term.
Wembley will merely fit new seats before attaching the rails and seeing how that works.
So while everything will be in place behind both goals for the Uefa Nations League home game with Germany on September 26, England fans — in theory — will be expected to remain seated.