While it often comes with excitement seeing your club make big transfers, as Nottingham Forest fans can testify, seeing players leave for big fees isn’t fun.
More often than not, for a club to part with big cash for a player, they must’ve done something big or are showing tremendous promise.
As such, you always get ‘what if we keep him?’ questions when players go, but that’s sadly a part of football.
In any case, here are the five transfers that registered as a record sale for Nottingham Forest.
5. Teddy Sheringham – £2.1m
A whirlwind romance with the club, Sheringham left just a year after being the club’s record signing at the time.
Forest signed Sheringham for £2m in July 1991 and he rewarded the Reds with 22 goals in his first season.
He then scored one the following season – the first ever goal on Sky TV in a 1-0 win over Liverpool – before being sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £2.1m.
Sheringham went on to be top scorer that year and Forest went down as they missed his goals, making it a painful transfer.
4. Roy Keane – £3.75m
A British record at the time and one of the harsher realities of being relegated from the top flight, Keane’s departure was a blow.
Following relegation in 1993, Keane – who had been in contract talks all year – made his £3.75m move to Manchester United.
It could’ve been different as he almost signed for Blackburn Rovers for £4m, but the required paperwork wasn’t in order.
This allowed Sir Alex Ferguson to swoop and Keane became an Old Trafford legend, with Forest wondering what might’ve been.
3. Stan Collymore – £8.5m
Described as the closest thing to the Brazilian Ronaldo on British shores, losing Collymore was a hammer blow for Forest.
After scoring 41 league goals in 65 games, Liverpool broke the British transfer record to sign Collymore for £8.5m.
Considering Forest had just finished third, this didn’t exactly go down well and while Collymore still excelled, it was never quite to the same standard as Forest.
However, he is still a very popular figure on Trentside and even appeared at the Fawaz Al-Hasawi protests back in 2018.
2. Oliver Burke – £13.5m
One that stung for a number of reasons and one that’s more complex to say Forest made a good decision at the time.
The Scotland international started the 2016/17 season like a man possessed, scoring four goals in five appearances and looking the real deal.
Then, after being promised he wouldn’t be sold, Burke was sold to Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig for £13.5m.
Burke never got going at Leipzig and who knows what would’ve happened had he been allowed to continue his development at Forest.
Out of all of the names on this list, that is indeed the biggest ‘what if?’
1. Britt Assombalonga – £15m
Out of all the names on the list, this is one where it was perhaps the right time for all parties for a transfer to take place.
After a blistering first season, Assombalonga picked up a very serious injury that left him sidelined for a year.
However, he came back with a bang and his goals were vital in keeping Forest up on goal difference in the 2016/17 season.
That summer, Middlesbrough met his £15m release clause and like Collymore, he never really hit the same heights.
Boro will be releasing Assombalonga this summer, no doubt sparking rumours of a return.
Which of these players had the most impact at Nottingham Forest?