Nuno Espirito Santo’s biggest Nottingham Forest mistake yet may just have been revealed

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Nuno Espirito Santo has had a predominantly unblemished record as Nottingham Forest’s manager, but one decision he made in the Summer transfer window looks to be a mistake.

Delivering Forest to third place in the Premier League table at the halfway point of the season, Espirito Santo has been earning well-warranted praise from key figures in football.

Vitor Pereira praised Espirito Santo in the buildup to Forest’s win over Wolves, whilst Ange Postecoglou shared his admiration for Espirito Santo before his side’s Boxing Day defeat at the City Ground.

The Forest manager has also made the most of some excellent transfer dealings in his time in Nottingham, notably improving Matz Sels into a goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in the Premier League so far.

However, a recent report has revealed one transfer decision that Espirito Santo made in the summer window that looks to be a key mistake in hindsight.

Nuno Espirito Santo rejected the chance to sign Omar Marmoush

In a report by the Daily Mail which details why Manchester City are looking to sign Omar Marmoush, a detail about Forest and Espirito Santo stands out above all.

The report said: “Forest’s technical director George Syrianos has excellent links in German football and Omar Marmoush was high on his list of Bundesliga targets last summer.

“Forest were proposing a package of a little more than £20m and ultimately did not take the final step to buy him from Eintracht Frankfurt.”

If the choice to sign the in-form Egyptian wasn’t a bad enough look, the report continued to reveal that it was Espirito Santo himself who made the final decision.

The report said: “Head coach Nuno Espirito Santo likes to work with a tight squad and, at the end of last summer, it is thought he told Marinakis there was no need to add [Marmoush].”

Given Forest’s pursuit of Yuri Alberto is leading the club’s attempts to find a backup for Chris Wood, signing Marmoush for just £20m would’ve solved this potential problem before it even arose.

Omar Marmoush would’ve been perfect for Nottingham Forest

Wood has been compared to Harry Kane thanks to his incredibly clinical nature this season, but Marmoush would’ve offered the Forest squad a completely different aspect to their forward line.

So far this season, Marmoush is outscoring Wood but most impressive is his 11 assists for Eintracht Frankfurt. He is also creating over five times the amount of chances that Wood is per 90 minutes.

Whilst these stats don’t necessarily mean that Marmoush would’ve replaced Wood in the starting XI, his strengths are so different to Wood’s that he would’ve been the perfect alternative in the Forest squad, making Espirito Santo’s decision to turn down the move difficult to understand.