Nottingham Forest have made their fair share of transfer mistakes in recent years. On Friday they could come face to face with the biggest of them all.
When the Reds travel to the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium they will come up against Rob Dickie.
Prior to him signing for Mark Warburton’s team in the summer of 2020, he was heavily linked with a move to Forest.
The Reds instead opted to sign Scott McKenna. That particular deal has seen Forest reap the rewards but there’s enough to suggest Dickie would have been a good signing.
Although Tobias Figueiredo has been steady this term, he was pretty awful at times during the 2020/21 campaign.
Forest signed Loic Mbe Soh at a similar time to Dickie too. He has made a handful of appearances for the Reds and has spent the majority of 2021/22 injured.
Dickie is growing under regular first-team football at QPR. He has started all 14 league games this season, scoring two goals and claiming one assist.
The central defender is proving a real leader at the back for Warburton and he’s even captained the side on certain occasions too.
Dickie’s injury record holds up too. He has already made 63 appearances for the West Londoners and at just shy of £2 million he looks an absolute steal.
Are Forest regretting not signing Dickie?
Right now, they’re not, although it could be argued that he’d be a better option at the back than Figueiredo.
The real discussion will need to be had once Joe Worrall eventually departs the City Ground.
Dickie looks every inch like the type of player who could have replaced the academy graduate and perhaps he’d have been a useful addition during the summer of 2020.
Forest will be hoping the decision not to sign him will return to haunt them on Friday night in the capital.