Nottingham Forest have slipped under the radar a little bit when it comes to signing players this season, with Champions League football still on the table for the club.
Forest have to beat Chelsea on the final day to stand any chance of gatecrashing the top five, but that’s a scenario that would have been taken back in August before a ball was kicked.
Gary Neville raved about Elliot Anderson earlier this season, with the likes of Jota Silva and Morato also playing their part in the campaign, albeit from a backup point of view.
Neville isn’t always so warm when it comes to discussing Forest, but during last night’s awards night, he delivered some praise on one of the more instrumental players in the 2024/25 campaign.
Gary Neville hands award to Nottingham Forest star Nikola Milenkovic
Last night, Neville sat down along with Jamie Carragher to deliver their awards for the 2024/25 campaign, with Forest receiving some plaudits.
Nikola Milenkovic has been a phenomenal signing for Forest during the campaign and he bagged his fifth goal of the season against West Ham on Sunday.
Neville has named the big Serbian defender as his Signing of the Season, with Carragher going for Bournemouth star Dean Huijsen.
He said on Monday Night Football: “Unbelievable signing. When you pick this one, sometimes you tend to go with someone you’ve just seen a little bit more. I think Milenkovic, with the season Forest have had and the dominance he’s had in that team, the way in which they defend and we’ve seen the stats about how much Forest have to defend.
“The thing about Milenkovic, the one thing I would say about him is that Forest suits him down to the ground. Forest stay quite compact, and that suits him and his style of defending.”
Nikola Milenkovic stats 2024/25
The defender has been a revelation for the Reds at just £12 million, and it’s quite remarkable that the club managed to pull off such a coup.
Neville is right when he says that Milenkovic suits Forest and how Nuno Espirito Santo likes to play, but there are plenty of other Premier League teams that he’d waltz into.
| Nikola Milenkovic stats 2024/25 | Total |
| Appearances | 35 |
| Aerials Won | 99 |
| Tackles | 45 |
| Clearances | 202 |
| Blocks | 24 |
| Who Scored Rating | 6.94 |
Milenkovic has led by example with his performances, and it’s hard to imagine him not wearing the armband at some point in the future.
Forest will have to get their recruitment plans spot on once again in the summer, and with Europe on the horizon, a few more signings of Milenkovic’s ilk won’t go amiss.
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