Nottingham Forest face transfer battle with Burnley for exciting English winger

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Nottingham Forest’s current January transfer rumours circulate around colossal fees, but one linked player remains available at a bargain price.

The most expensive deal would be Forest’s interest in Matheus Cunha. Given his importance to their relegation fight, Wolves are demanding £70m for Cunha to consider parting ways with their star man before Monday’s deadline.

If £70m is too rich for Evangelos Marinakis’ blood, Brentford’s £40m valuation of Yoane Wissa could be a more tempting proposition given his similar statistical performance in the Premier League compared to Cunha.

Whichever way Marinakis chooses to go in his hunt for attacking talent, Forest’s willingness to break their transfer record for Cunha suggests that a major signing is on the cards at the City Ground before transfer deadline day.

However, the size of the transfer fee doesn’t dictate the quality of the player, a notion no more evident than when looking at a Forest January target with a bargain price tag that is being linked with a Championship move.

Sunderland and Burnley enter Marcus Edwards race

It seemed as if Forest’s interest in Marcus Edwards would be a rather straightforward deal to complete, with a suggestion that the winger may even spend a short spell at Marinakis-owned Olympiacos before joining up with Espirito Santo.

In a surprising twist, though, Portuguese outlet, Record, is reporting that Sunderland and Burnley of the Championship are targeting the English winger.

The two sides are firmly in the hunt for promotion back to the Premier League, sitting third and fourth respectively in the Championship table. Clearly confident of their chances, they are willing to pay the £7m asking price set out by Sporting for Edwards.

There is no doubt that the Englishman is available ahead of Monday, given that Edwards recently acquired a new agent to help negotiate his exit from Sporting after only featuring ten times for the club he has starred for in European competition in recent years.

A return to England would clearly appeal to him which makes the Sunderland and Burnley options viable, but the Forest owner should not be letting a potential bargain slip him by.

Evangelos Marinakis could regret not signing Marcus Edwards

At 26, Marcus Edwards has a CV that does not match his £7m asking price, which would make it a risk if Marinakis didn’t try to sign the English star.

With the ability to operate on both wings, Edwards’ best campaign for Sporting came in the 2022/23 season where he notched 12 goals and provided nine assists for his teammates.

To put this into context, Callum Hudson-Odoi’s most profitable campaign at Forest saw him contribute ten goals and assists, whilst Anthony Elanga’s best year in a Forest shirt saw him contribute 14.

Therefore, the option to purchase a player for just £7m who could provide a better attacking threat than both of the starting wide players should be a no-brainer for the Forest manager, it’s just whether Marinakis feels the same way about the deal.