Nottingham Forest have placed Ismail Jakobs at the top of their list to fill their void at left-back. The Reds have been left short after Renan Lodi decided to join Marseille instead of pursuing a permanent move to the City Ground.
According to The Telegraph, the international teammate of Cheikhou Kouyate and Moussa Niakhate is now on the radar. Jakobs has made eight appearances for Senegal on the international stage.
The Monaco player could be sold this summer. Forest are keen to sign the 23-year-old who signed for the Ligue 1 outfit back in 2021 from Cologne.
Jakobs has been striving for a regular place since arriving at the club, making 80 appearances. Last season he featured 41 times in all competitions but only started nine league games.
The youngster plays as a left-back or left-sided wing-back. He’s built more like a central midfielder and isn’t afraid to get stuck into challenges when he needs to.
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At this stage, it’s not clear how much the player will cost. He’s unlikely to come cheap though, with Jakobs having a contract with Monaco until 2026.
Forest have Omar Richards and Harry Toffolo in their ranks at present. Toffolo faces a ban after breaking betting regulations; whilst Richards hasn’t played in over a year after two serious injuries.
Forest make Jakobs their top left-back target
This would be an interesting one. The player certainly fits the profile of the type of player that Forest would like to sign in the future and Jakobs might welcome a move.
He would have some help settling in at the club. Niakhate and Kouyate are both international teammates and that might help him make his mind up.
Youngster Josh Powell has played at left-back during pre-season. Although he’s not let anyone down, it’s abundantly clear that Forest are in desperate need of a left-back for the new season ahead.
Rumour rating: 7/10 – We can’t go any higher as there do seem to be a few issues.
Firstly, he’s relatively unknown and furthermore, he would likely represent another player who heads off to the African Cup of Nations in January!
However, we do like the profile and at 23-years-old, he’d have many years left ahead of him.
If he signs, you won’t find us whinging too much and the hope would be that he could take the Premier League by storm.