With Nottingham Forest’s pursuit of Matheus Cunha looking more and more difficult by the day, Nuno Espirito Santo will be disappointed to see another attacking target set to move elsewhere.
Forest look set to submit a club-record bid for Cunha but will face stiff competition from other sides in the Premier League as Mikel Arteta hinted at Arsenal moving for Cunha.
Of the two options, it seems that Cunha prefers a move to Arsenal which will disappoint Evangelos Marinakis as Wolves’ £60m valuation for Cunha seemed to be a number that the Forest owner could attempt to match.
Especially after Forest’s humiliating 5-0 loss to Bournemouth on Saturday, Espirito Santo will be desperate to see at least one attacking addition to his side in January.
Forest had been looking at wider options as well as central strikers, with one option in particular looking unlikely given a recent report.
Former Nottingham Forest target Johan Bakayoko set for Bundesliga
Whilst Evangelos Marinakis does want to sign a striker in January, an attacking winger could well do the same job in terms of adding more variety to the scorers at Forest. One option that had previously been rumoured was the Belgian speedster, Johan Bakayoko, but his future looks to be elsewhere.
A report by Sky Sports Germany said: “PSV star Johan Bakayoko is planning the next step in the summer and would like to move – preferably to the Bundesliga.
“The Belgian is under contract in Eindhoven until 2026 and has rejected an offer to extend it. The realistic price is €25 to €30 million euros.”
The report does claim that Bakayoko does have “England in mind in the future”, but his preference is to continue his development in Germany for now.
Bakayoko had a remarkable 2023/24 campaign in The Netherlands, scoring 14 goals and assisting the same number for his PSV teammates in 48 games, much more impressive numbers than the likes of Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
He’s by no means a stranger to Marinakis, though, having spent considerable time scouting the Belgian winger in the past.
Nottingham Forest have history with Johan Bakayoko
Amidst Forest’s 2022 summer transfer chaos in which 23 new players piled into the Forest training ground, Steve Cooper wanted to sign Bakayoko to help secure his side’s Premier League status.
Bakayoko had only just broken through at PSV so the move would’ve been a risky one, but Marinakis clearly took a liking to the winger as Forest made a bid to buy Bakayoko in the 2024 summer window, only for it to be rejected as the Belgian wanted to be involved in a title challenge.
Given that his form has somewhat declined this season in the Eredivisie, with only six goals and one assist in 17 appearances, it could be expected that his insistence on a title challenge may have been forgotten, especially as it would limit his Bundesliga options.
After Forest fans criticized Jota Silva’s display against Bournemouth, another winger with more reliable goalscoring quality could’ve been appealing to Forest but it seems Bakayoko is destined to slip away from the Forest owner’s grasp once more.
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