Nottingham Forest may have just found a Chris Wood clone who is six years younger amid transfer rumours

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If any player can claim to be the most important part of Nottingham Forest’s rise this season, it’s the free-scoring Chris Wood up front.

Wood became Forest’s record Premier League scorer this season thanks to his 17 goals and counting, including his hattrick in Forest’s 7-0 demolition of Brighton.

His importance to Evangelos Marinakis was signposted when Wood signed a new Forest contract in January, rewarding him for the goals that have catapulted Forest into the hunt for Champions League football.

Somewhat surprisingly, Turkish club Besiktas registered interest in Wood early in the January transfer window, clearly viewing him purely as a goalscorer for right now because at 33 years old, the Kiwi striker won’t hold a strong market value for much longer, rightly or wrongly.

Another aspect that may begin to go against Wood is the heightened risk of injury, leading to Marinakis prioritising a new striker in January and the likes of Matheus Cunha being linked with the City Ground along with Yoane Wissa, but Brentford rejected Forest’s bid for Wissa.

Perhaps to the disappointment of Nuno Espirito Santo, a striker could not be found in January but rumours regarding future targets persist, including one with sizeable Premier League pedigree.

Nottingham Forest keen on contract rebel Jean-Philippe Mateta

Cunha will cost Forest £62.5m in the summer should Marinakis choose to rekindle his interest, but another, much cheaper, option has arisen in the form of Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta.

According to TBR Football: “Jean-Philippe Mateta is yet to sign a new deal at Crystal Palace, and his contract was due to expire in less than 18 months before the Eagles recently triggered a 12-month extension, keeping him tied down until June 2027.

“West Ham, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are keeping tabs on the situation along with Manchester United, Chelsea and Newcastle.”

Mateta has had somewhat of a career resurgence in recent years, much like Wood. Having scored just two goals in the 2022/23 season, Mateta turned his Palace career around to score 19 the next season, followed up with 13 goals so far in this campaign including a brace against Manchester United.

There’s a school of thought that suggests Marinakis made Cunha his top target due to the club wanting a striker with statistical differences from Wood. However, with the New Zealand international in such good form, the statistical similarities between him and Mateta could make the Frenchman the perfect fit.

Chris Wood and Jean-Philippe Mateta share many similarities

With Mateta scoring seven fewer Premier League goals than Wood this season, it may seem that he doesn’t have much to offer the Forest squad. However, their remarkably similar stats this season show that the Frenchman could comfortably replicate Wood at the City Ground.

Mateta and Wood are nearly inseparable in most of the stats that define their role, with 0.01 between their xG per 90 and very similar numbers for shots on target per 90.

Their strong goalscoring form this season also comes from very few touches per game, with Mateta averaging just three more touches than Wood at Palace.

Wood wins slightly more aerial duels per game, it can be argued that if Mateta was under the tutelage of the Forest manager, he could replicate these numbers whilst being six years younger than Wood.

Arne Slot praised Wood’s style of play at Forest, something that Espirito Santo and the Forest owner could easily look to replicate by signing Mateta in the summer.