Alan Shearer thinks Nottingham Forest star is set for a brilliant 24/25 season

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Nottingham Forest drew 1-1 with Bournemouth yesterday as they began the 2024/25 Premier League campaign in pretty frustrating circumstances.

Chris Wood capped off a fine first half for Forest with a goal after 23 minutes but Antoine Semenyo secured a point for the Cherries four minutes from time.

The Reds did enjoy plenty of positive moments, however, and there will be a lot for the team to take into next weekend’s visit to Southampton.

On Match of the Day, the talk turned to the performance of a man who will be looking to really stamp his authority on the team this season – and how well he played yesterday.

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What Alan Shearer said about Forest star Ibrahim Sangare

This is going to be a massive year for Sangare as he bids to justify his £30 million price tag.

Last year was a struggle and after contracting malaria it pretty much curtailed any chance he had of establishing himself in the team.

Shearer was mightily impressed with the player yesterday and felt he really stamped his authority on the Forest team.

He told Match of the Day: “Ibrahim Sangare, they signed him for a lot of money last summer and he only had 13 starts for them last season. Illness, injuries, it didn’t happen for him.

“Hopefully on today’s performance, he can have a really good season. He won the most tackles, had the most interceptions, and won possession more than anyone else.

“It’s going to be a big season for him and he did everything in a simple way today but a lot of it was effective and lots of stuff that Forest started with came from Sangare.”

Sangare needs a run of games from Nuno Espirito Santo

Forest can’t afford not to play Sangare and let him adapt to life in the Premier League.

He cost far too much money for him to be sat around doing very little and kicking his heels on the bench.

Sangare yesterday was absolutely brilliant and from a fan point of view it was a performance that offered signs of progress.

The midfielder clearly benefitted from a full pre-season and thankfully he took that form into a Premier League game.

Fans have to realise what Sangare was actually signed by Forest for.

He wasn’t signed to be a swashbuckling player that takes players on and pings balls in the top corner on a regular basis.

His work is about doing the ugly things well and you have to be hard pushed to suggest he didn’t do that yesterday.

Naturally, there is still room for Sangare to improve but with Espirito Santo in his corner and a run of games under his belt, he should start to shine soon enough and silence any doubters that linger on.