Nottingham Forest did a lot of strong business in the transfer window during the summer.
The Reds switched the strategy to target young and hungry players with significant resale value and have reaped the rewards on the pitch.
In fairness, things couldn’t get worse than last season – especially when it came to the loan signings.
Andrey Santos signed for Forest on loan and played for seven minutes in the Premier League before returning to Chelsea.
The likes of Gonzalo Montiel, Nuno Tavares and Giovanni Reyna were also added with minimal impact.
This year’s loan signings have been experienced campaigners James Ward-Prowse and Alex Moreno, with both offering something on the pitch and in the dressing room.
There was another deal done last January that caused some intrigue and it was somewhat surprising to some that a loan didn’t become permanent in the summer.
Paul Taylor surprised Forest didn’t sign Rodrigo Ribeiro
The Sporting CP striker was viewed as a bit of a big deal when he signed for the club and it was anticipated that the loan would become permanent.
Ribeiro only played for 15 minutes across a number of substitute appearances and did little to showcase his potential.
As a result, Forest decided to pull out of the permanent deal and that surprised The Athletic’s Forest correspondent, Paul Taylor.
He told the Forest Focus podcast: “I was surprised but only in the sense that when he was signed it was presented as almost as a done deal as in he’s signing on loan but it would be made permanent in the summer.
“I get the impression he didn’t quite impress as much as the club would have hoped for. He didn’t do a lot on the pitch, did he? I don’t necessarily think that the club thought he was someone who would come in and kind of have a rampaging presence but it seems he didn’t impress.
“I think the fee was quite high – about £12 million I believe – so maybe it was just that the price tag was a bit too rich for what they’d seen behind the scenes.”
Did Forest miss a trick with Rodrigo Ribeiro?
It has to be said, probably not.
He showed very little during his cameo performances last season to suggest that he was going to be a star of the future.
Even Sporting CP don’t see him as enough of a talent to be in their squad at the moment either.
He’s currently on a season-long loan with Avs FS in Portugal’s top flight but has failed to score in seven appearances.
Ribeiro is getting more game time, however, and has started five of the league games which he’s played in.
Right now, he doesn’t look like a regular goalscorer when it comes to men’s football, however, and Forest were right not to part with £12 million.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
