Nottingham Forest set to lose first-team member as agreement reached with Nuno Espirito Santo

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It’s early as far as deadline day goes but Nottingham Forest might just dominate some of the headlines today.

Evangelos Marinakis wants to sign a new striker today. Forest are third in the Premier League table, however, so there is a sense that the Reds might wait and take stock once again in the summer.

Matheus Cunha has been linked with Forest. However, he’s penned a new deal with Wolves and although it features a £62.5 million release clause, that won’t be active until the summer.

It could be the type of rare deadline day where Forest don’t complete any incoming business. There will, however, be some players who depart the City Ground in one sense or another today.

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Nottingham Forest make call on James Ward-Prowse

This one has come out of the blue but perhaps isn’t surprising. On Saturday, Ibrahim Sangare and Danilo both returned to the Premier League matchday squad and that meant that James Ward-Prowse was omitted from the 20-man squad.

David Ornstein doesn’t sleep much at this time of the year as he keeps his pulse on the transfer activities across the globe. At midnight last night, he posted an exclusive update on Ward-Prowse.

He said on X: “James Ward-Prowse to rejoin West Ham from Nottingham Forest. 30yo midfielder on season-long loan at #NFFC but #WHUFC exercised recall option; agreed between clubs & in process of being finalised. Graham Potter keen to use Englishman.”

This morning he’s posted another update of sorts which clarifies the situation a little bit, with Ornstein saying: “Correction: there was no formal recall option in James Ward-Prowse loan deal: it was a mutual agreement between the clubs for the 30yo midfielder to rejoin West Ham from Nottingham Forest & will be completed on Deadline Day.”

James Ward-Prowse stats for Nottingham Forest 2024/25

This looked a positive signing on paper but it’s just not worked out. Ward-Prowse has been a positive influence at Forest behind the scenes but he’s essentially the sixth-choice midfielder with Danilo and Sangare featuring on Saturday.

Ward-Prowse feels very much like a Graham Potter-type that should effortlessly squeeze into the new-look West Ham team and accommodate their ranks just nicely.

What is interesting about this is this is that Forest have now freed up a Premier League loan space should the Reds choose to attack that particular market on deadline day.

Ward-Prowse should leave the City Ground with his head held high. He did alright when he first came in but after losing his place in the team following a sending-off at Chelsea, he’s struggled to reclaim his place.