Nottingham Forest are set to sign Alex Moreno from Aston Villa in the next few hours, with the Reds edging closer to finalising their squad.
Forest are in need of a left-back. Ola Aina limped out of the action on Saturday and Harry Toffolo is considered a backup option.
Moreno has been on Forest’s radar for a while. The club thought they’d landed him in 2022 after promotion when a fee of £11 million was agreed with Real Betis.
Back then he chose to stay with the club he made 122 appearances for until Aston Villa picked him up in January 2023 for a fee similar to that agreed by Forest.
Now, a move to the City Ground finally looks set in stone. Forest are going to take the 31-year-old on loan and they will hold an option to purchase him next summer.
What Unai Emery has said about Forest bound Alex Moreno
The Villa boss is clearly a big fan of Moreno and he’s watched him grow since he swapped Spain for Villa Park.
Now, he’s down the pecking order, however, and is behind Ian Maatsen and Lucas Digne for the left-back spot in Emery’s team.
In March 2023, Emery shared to Birmingham World what he felt Moreno struggled with when he first signed for the club.
He said: “Alex Moreno is improving and is adapting well. At the beginning, he was struggling because of the rhythm here was hard. I remember the first match against Leeds when he came in for the injured Lucas Digne, he struggled a bit with the rhythm. Progressively, his adaptation has been very quick.”
In further comments made by Emery during an interview on Moreno, he also shared what he felt were the player’s best qualities as a left-back.
He continued: “Moreno’s best quality is his speed. In the attacking third, he is getting into he box and finding not only crosses, but passes as well – very good.
“Now, what we’ve decided for him – because of his quality I knew before from Spain – I like sometimes the one side using the right or left back higher. We are doing it with the left-back higher than the right-back because to like use Moreno higher and more aggressive in attack.”
Moreno can star for Forest under Nuno Espirito Santo
Thus far, it’s been impossible for the Forest head coach to truly outline his style of play with the players in the squad not really considered his.
Now, adding an attacking full-back looks like a good addition to the squad and furthermore, Moreno being left-footed will bring some balance.
The Reds needed that with Ola Aina a right-footed player currently operating on the left and the 31-year-old could quickly make the position his own.
It’s quite interesting that Emery has sung his praises as a player who likes to get forward and after some time with Villa, there will be no need for him to get settled at this level.
Hopefully, Moreno can be signed in time for Saturday and get the chance to showcase exactly what he’s capable of to the Forest fans.
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