The race is on for Nottingham Forest to find a replacement for Anthony Elanga after he decided to move to Newcastle in a permanent deal.
Elanga signed for Newcastle for a fee in the region of £60 million and ends weeks of speculation regarding the player’s future.
Morgan Gibbs-White could be joining Tottenham, although that deal is delayed for now, although things do look set to end with the Forest number 10 moving to London.
Forest are targeting a number of players, but worryingly, the activity on the recruitment seems to be extremely slow, especially when it comes to the incoming deals.
- READ MORE: Ryan Yates makes Anthony Elanga claim
Nottingham Forest handed blow over Johan Bakayoko
It was claimed that Bakayoko was a top target to replace Elanga once the player moved to Newcastle but now he’s set to get his Champions League wish too.
Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sports Germany claims that Bakayoko is now in concrete talks with Bayer Leverkusen, with Erik ten Hag very keen to finally strike a deal.
Bakayoko is currently playing for PSV and it would appear that more talks are being planned today to sign the player for around £18 million.
That looks to represent extremely good value for money, with the 22-year-old seemingly very keen to operate in the Champions League next season.
Bakayoko was always a long shot for Forest
There might be five weeks to go until the season gets underway, but this is already proving a very frustrating transfer window for Forest.
Bakayoko did feel like a bit of a pipedream given his vast potential and his desire from the outset to play in the Champions League next season.
There is a sense that Forest can do better than Bakayoko, given that he’s only ever played in the Eredivisie, where he scored 12 goals last season.
Forest do have to get very busy very quickly, though. New signings are now absolutely paramount and there really is no time to dwell on the Bakayoko setback.
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