Steve Cooper masterclass as details emerges of a Zoom call to secure £15m transfer for Nottingham Forest

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Nuno Espirito Santo has been a brilliant appointment for Nottingham Forest, but some of the groundwork for his impact was set by Steve Cooper.

Rio Ferdinand thinks Forest will struggle to keep Morgan Gibbs-White due to how brilliant he has been under Espirito Santo, but his origins at the club lie with Cooper instead.

Due to their history together in the England youth ranks, Cooper wanted Gibbs-White at Forest in what has turned out to be a brilliant call.

Also in that England side that Cooper led to World Cup glory was Callum Hudson-Odoi, who has been an equal hit at the City Ground. Forest paid just £3m for Hudson-Odoi when Cooper was in charge, but new details have revealed just how crucial the former Forest manager was in securing another current star.

Steve Cooper played a key role in the Anthony Elanga signing

Cooper’s job was made much harder when Forest sold Brennan Johnson in the 2023 summer window, his star attacker who would need replacing.

However, this replacement had already been found as Forest signed Anthony Elanga for £15m, a deal that in hindsight, looks to have been incredible value for money.

According to the Daily Mail, Cooper had a big part to play in convincing the Swede to join Forest, work that his successor is now benefitting from.

The report said: “Elanga’s mentality helped persuade former Forest boss Steve Cooper to move for him two summers ago, when the club knew they would lose Brennan Johnson to Tottenham.

“Forest’s recruitment staff had looked closely at Elanga’s data and even though the main statistics were unspectacular, a deeper dive convinced them that given regular football, Elanga would thrive.

“Thanks to a long pitch via Zoom that detailed his plans for Elanga, as well as the prospect of playing for such vocal supporters, Cooper helped Forest beat Everton to the deal.”

The deal to bring Elanga to the City Ground looks even more clever when considering how he is performing compared to Johnson at Tottenham.

Anthony Elanga is outperforming Brennan Johnson

Forest will offer Elanga a new contract in the coming months to solidify his status at the club, a very important step given how brilliant he has been for Espirito Santo this season.

Clearly, Johnson has an eye for goal and always has done, considering he scored 10 goals in the Reds’ first season back at Premier League level. However, in every other metric, Elanga is superior.

Creativity is a key part of the Swede’s game, as shown by Elanga’s three assists against Brighton in the 7-0 demolition in February. Delving deeper, the assist differential makes complete sense as Elanga creates more opportunities, completes more dribbles and passes more accurately than Johnson.

Espirito Santo got the better end of the bargain then in the Elanga and Johnson deals, but he has Cooper to thank for convincing the former Manchester United winger to make the move to Nottingham.