Nottingham Forest have been long-term admirers of Johan Bakayoko, with the club keen to address the gap left by Anthony Elanga in the team.
Elanga has joined Newcastle for a fee close to £60 million and his rapid pace is going to be seriously hard for Forest to replace next season.
Bakayoko was identified by Forest pretty much straight away as a possible replacement, although he’s taken some time to mull over his next move.
The youngster has now made a decision on his future, it would appear, and the decision is certainly an intriguing one, to say the least.
Johan Bakayoko update emerges amid Nottingham Forest links
According to Florian Plettenberg, the future of Bakayoko is close to being decided, with RB Leipzig coming up on the rails to snare him from other potential suitors.
Over the weekend, it was claimed that Bayer Leverkusen were the closest to signing Bakayoko, but now he’s going to Leipzig, it would seem.
Plettenberg believes that a deal is close for Bakayoko to go to the Bundesliga outfit, with a fee in the region of £18 million close to being agreed.
Nottingham Forest will be puzzled by Bakayoko decision
It’s been claimed for so long that Bakayoko was holding out for a club in the Champions League, which would have made a move to Leverkusen very logical.
However, Evangelos Marinakis might be left scratching his head with his decision to join Leipzig, given that they won’t be in any European competition next season.
Leipzig finished in seventh place in the Bundesliga and as a result, they won’t even be having a foray into the UEFA Conference League next season.
That makes Bakayoko’s decision extremely puzzling and it’s a huge shame that Forest haven’t been able to get over the line and win the race for the Belgian.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
