Nottingham Forest made a host of successful signings during the summer months but there were still some transfer targets that slipped through the net.
An episode of Hollyoaks doesn’t have as much drama as the Forest search for a striker and that was perhaps one blemish on the club’s transfer business during the window.
That said, it wasn’t through a lack of trying. Santiago Gimenez looked likely to sign for Forest at one point but made more u-turns than a driver using a dodgy SatNav!
Another player who Forest looked at was Omar Marmoush. He made his feelings clear to Forest with hours of the window remaining and it left the club frustrated in their efforts to sign a striker.
Forest also failed with efforts to sign Eddie Nketiah. The striker faced off against the Reds on Monday having chosen to join Crystal Palace instead of heading to the East Midlands.
His performance on Monday hardly did much to make Forest wish they’d signed Nketiah and perhaps Nuno Espirito Santo was proved right to tell Evangelos Marinakis to keep his money.
- READ MORE: Nuno hails £15m Nottingham Forest player
Seb Hutchinson delivers verdict on failed Forest move for Eddie Nketiah
The man commentating on the game for Sky Sports was quizzed on the decision made by Forest to target Nketiah and whether or not he’d have been right for the club.
It’s clear that he believes Palace was a better club for the former Arsenal man and he’s suggested that Forest might have dodged a bullet a little bit with this one.
He told the Forest Focus podcast: “I don’t like saying dodged a bullet for a player like Nketiah because he’s got a sharpness in front of goal and he’s hungry to score, he’s a bit like Ian Wright but at the same time he’s got a frame that suggests he might be better in a wide area but he doesn’t have the skill set for a winger typically.
“From a Forest point of view, could they find room for him in the squad, £30 million is a lot of money to put on somebody who you’re thinking is going to be a sub.
“From a Forest point of view, I think they probably dodged a bullet in the sense that I don’t think they really needed him. I don’t think he’d have added much but I don’t think that makes him a bad player – I just don’t think Forest was the right club for him.”
Forest won’t live to regret not pushing harder to sign Nketiah
At 25-years-old, Forest would have been signing a player for £30 million and as a result, they’d have demanded that he come in and start scoring.
Ultimately, Nketiah hasn’t scored yet this season and there is no saying that he’d have done any better had he signed for Forest ahead of the new campaign.
Nketiah was very rarely considered a starter at Arsenal. He was often the man tasked with scoring from the bench and making his mark in cup competitions and he’d have been a huge risk for Forest.
Hutchinson is right when he says that Nketiah is a talented player. However, it was a lot of money for a player who hasn’t proved himself as a regular goalscorer and Forest can now look to press ahead with other targets.
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