Nottingham Forest star admits he had doubts over moving to the City Ground, it was a ‘risk’

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Nottingham Forest very nearly succumbed to relegation last season as the club’s Premier League status remained on the line right up until the penultimate week of the campaign.

Forest got extremely lucky. The Reds were thankful that all three of Luton, Burnley and Sheffield United were horrifically bad following promotion from the Championship.

That gave Forest a lifeline and a chance to be very ordinary and survive relegation.

One of the issues was the form of the team’s goalkeepers in the first half of 2023/24 which threatened the club’s Premier League status.

Both Matt Turner and Odysseas Vlachodimos were haphazard at best and utterly dreadful at worst.

Thankfully, Nuno Espirito Santo managed to sign Matz Sels in January and for the first time, he’s now been speaking about his switch to Forest.

• READ MORE: Forest want two new players in January

Matz Sels admits doubts over Nottingham Forest move

The January transfer window is often so tricky to purchase in.

So, the fact that Forest managed to get a pretty sound goalkeeper for £5 million should perhaps be celebrated.

The custodian has been a safe pair of hands since signing for the club and this season he’s really started to thrive with Sels earning praise from Joe Hart.

The deal for Sels to come to Forest nearly didn’t happen though and now he’s confirmed what happened on that day back in January.

He told De Morgen: “It was a risk to go to Nottingham on Deadline Day in January. I only had a few hours to decide, while I was well-liked at Strasbourg.

“In hindsight, it worked out well. It was also a calculated risk because Nottingham Forest were never in the bottom three but always just above the relegation zone.”

Sels deserves praise for his form this season

Many supporters doubted whether or not Sels would remain as the number one this season.

Carlos Miguel was added from Corinthians and it was anticipated in the minds of some that he’d been added as the number one.

But, Espirito Santo seems to like Sels and ultimately he’s been given the chance to keep the gloves.

Forest are currently in fifth place in the Premier League table and a settled defensive unit has been a large reason for that.

Sels won’t be a long-term solution at the City Ground but certainly for now there is little chance of him being dispossessed from the Forest team.