Report: Nottingham Forest saw lliman Ndiaye as Morgan Gibbs-White backup

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Nottingham Forest saw Iliman Ndiaye as the ideal backup to Morgan Gibbs-White in the summer. According to The Guardian, he was a target of Steve Cooper’s until the club went and landed Jesse Lingard.

The Sheffield United player is now a man in form. Tonight, he will be trying to knock England out of the World Cup and it will be interesting to see whether or not he starts the contest.

Ndiaye has worked his way through the ranks at Sheffield United. He was actually plucked from non-league outfit Boreham Wood in 2019 and has also spent time on loan with Hyde United.

Now, he’s busy making an impact on the Championship. During the 2022/23 campaign, he’s helped the Blades into a lofty league position, scoring nine goals and laying on a further three in the way of assists.

Interestingly, Forest viewed the player as a backup option to Gibbs-White. Last season, the pair played alongside each other, with the 22-year-old spending the 2021/22 campaign on loan at Bramall Lane.

In the summer, he became Forest’s record signing. The Reds paid Wolves an initial £25 million and the Premier League club could receive up to £42.5 million for the England under-21 player’s services.

Gibbs-White has been slowly but surely getting up to speed at Forest. He’s now arguably the first name on the team sheet and his determination and desire attributes are unrivalled in the Forest squad.

Ndiaye was viewed as backup to Gibbs-White

This would have been a wonderful signing. The Senegalese star can play in a number of positions across the final third and that level of versatility would have made him a very good signing.

Ndiaye could still be available in January. He has just 18 months to run on his existing deal and as a result, the Blades could be backed into a bit of a corner with regards to selling him.

Gibbs-White was a desperately good signing. It’s fair to say that Lingard’s experience could yet be vital too and he was playing really well prior to the international break for the World Cup.

Steve Cooper is a big fan of Ndiaye. With that in mind, the Red might be preparing another swoop on the South Yorkshire-based club to sign to the versatile attacker.