Nottingham Forest are set to complete their first summer signing by completing the capture of Ola Aina on a free transfer. The player was most recently with Torino in Serie A but left the club in the summer.
According to John Percy, the player is flying over to Spain to undergo his medical with the Reds. Aina will then be expected to become an official Forest player in the near future.
Last season, the versatile performer made 21 appearances. He largely played in a right-sided wing-back role bus has also made appearances on the left and even in midfield during his career.
Aina came through the youth ranks at Chelsea. He was born in London and made six appearances for the Stamford Bridge-based outfit. He’s also played for Hull and Fulham in England.
The majority of his career has been spent with Torino, however. He’s made 113 appearances for the club and has also been capped 30 times for Nigeria.
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Forest have been seeking new recruits since they secured their Premier League status last season. At 26-years-old, Aina doesn’t look like a bad addition, considering he can play in a number of positions.
The club will now hope to get this deal over the line. The idea will be to press on and have as many new signings available as possible for the forthcoming friendly games against PSV, Eintracht Frankfurt and Leeds.
Forest set to make Aina their first summer signing
It will be very interesting to see where he fits into the team at Forest. In recent years, he’s played a lot of his games as a right-back but Forest have Serge Aurier and Neco Williams in that area of the pitch.
His coach for many years at Torino Ivan Juric called him ‘quality’ when he first signed for the club. He did a very useful job in Serie A and managed to become a first-team regular in Italy.
Now, he’s been seeking a new team to play for and Forest have handed him a deal. At this stage, it’s not clear how long he will sign for but at 26, he should have plenty to offer the Reds.
Aina will likely begin training when Forest return to England. The Reds face Levante tomorrow in Spain before heading back to the East Midlands where pre-season will intensify.
The utility man needs to be the first signing of around five or six new recruits. Hopefully, this will spark a domino effect and a few more can be added in the next week or so.