How close Nottingham Forest actually came to signing Yoane Wissa and Matheus Cunha as truth is shared

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Nottingham Forest ended the transfer window without signing a new striker, despite heavy links with both Matheus Cunha and Yoane Wissa.

Cunha was Forest’s top target for the January window as Evangelos Marinakis looked to supply Nuno Espirito Santo with additional firepower to secure Forest’s place amongst the elite of European football next season.

Given that Chris Wood broke Forest’s Premier League scoring record this season, it wasn’t likely that the Kiwi would be replaced up front, but quality backup could’ve gone a long way to easing any nerves in the event of Wood picking up an injury.

Cunha ended up being too difficult of a deal for Marinakis, but Forest’s interest in Wissa provided an alternative target with an even better Premier League goalscoring record.

If there were ever doubts about the seriousness of the Forest owner’s pursuit of an attacker, Forest’s willingness to break their transfer record for Cunha was seemingly evidence enough that a deal would eventually go through.

But a deal never quite materialised in the end, leading to speculation about how genuine the rumours were about a new striker at the City Ground.

Nottingham Forest weren’t close to Yoane Wissa or Matheus Cunha

When David Ornstein confirmed Forest wouldn’t sign a striker in the final hours before the transfer window shut, Forest fans were left disappointed that their long-rumoured interests in Cunha and Wissa would remain just that.

However, Nottingham Forest News can reveal, through transfer expert Graeme Bailey, that Marinakis was never as close to signing either striker as first thought.

On how close Forest were to signing either Cunha or Wissa, Bailey said: “Not very at all – they like both players and made an approach for Wissa but it was testing Brentford’s resolve in that respect.

“Forest were not actively looking but they would have taken the right player if he had come up – they are in a good place where it is quality over quantity.”

Whilst this may feel like a shock for some, the clues were all there throughout the window as Forest decided to keep Taiwo Awoniyi who would’ve likely needed to be sold to help finance a move for either Cunha or Wissa.

Forest may return for Wissa in the summer whilst Cunha will be available but undoubtedly more expensive. In the meantime, though, Forest’s supporting cast will need to start chipping in with more goals to support Wood up front.

Nottingham Forest’s other attackers can supply more goals

Without Wood’s 17 Premier League goals, it seems impossible to think that Forest would still be competing for the European places.

Of course, the Forest coaching staff will have created a system to directly supply Wood, but more goals could still be supplied from the likes of Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga.

The rest of the attackers in the Forest squad combined have not scored as many goals as Wood, which is a problem that has somehow not managed to greatly impact Espirito Santo yet.

Stuart Pearce thought Elanga was the star man against Brighton due to his three assists that took him to eight overall, whilst Gibbs-White also has four and Elliot Anderson can claim five assists.

However, without Wood on the end to finish off these chances created, Forest would be much worse off and Awoniyi’s single goal this season highlights he could not pick up the slack in his current form.

Wood is excellent and his goals are a credit to the Forest manager for the system he has created, but the supporting act must show an ability to get somewhere close to his numbers in the event of an unfortunate injury.