Nottingham Forest’s next Anthony Elanga replacement target has ‘world-class’ potential at only 19

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As Nottingham Forest trawl through an increasingly long list of options to replace Anthony Elanga, the comments of one target’s former coach could make him an impressive choice.

Given Elanga’s importance to Nuno Espírito Santo’s tactical set-up, the Forest squad is said to be concerned about next season’s playing style, suggesting that a slight evolution to the tactics may be required.

This has led to Forest being linked with players with an emphasis on technical prowess rather than blistering pace, one such example being Forest’s interest in Harvey Elliott of Liverpool.

Elliott could be available for around £40m, but Forest could be tempted to favour a move for one of his Liverpool teammates, based on the remarkable praise from one of his former coaches.

Nottingham Forest target showed ‘world-class’ potential from a young age

While Elliott’s place in the Liverpool squad has been established for a while, it was a loan away from Anfield that drew Forest to another attacking talent on Merseyside.

Forest are keen on Ben Doak after the 19-year-old Scotsman caught the eye on loan at Middlesbrough last season. His talents have been present for much longer than a year, though, evidenced by how highly he’s thought of by his former Ayr United youth coach, Liam Anderson.

Speaking to Sky Sports about Doak in 2024, Anderson said: “Even though he was the youngest on the pitch, you knew he’d be the best player. He would play as a striker, now he’s a winger these days, you knew if you created chances you would put the ball in the back of the net.

“[…] “There’s that talk of him doing so well at Middlesbrough that he could be the replacement for Salah – these are huge boots to fill.

“But with his mentality and his trajectory and where he’s going right now, the sky is the limit for him. He has the potential to go on and be a world-class player – you’re hearing ex-players and pundits saying the same thing. If they’re seeing it…”

Potential is one thing, but it’s already clear that Doak could make a significant impact on the Forest squad when analysing his performances in the Championship with Middlesbrough.

Ben Doak could be the present and future of Nottingham Forest

Doak possesses excellent technical ability, but Anderson was also keen to point out that he has the pace to help the transition away from Elanga.

Anderson continued: “It’s his natural pace, we can see now he does have a lot of natural pace. It’s a throwback to an old-school winger. His acceleration and his quickness is very good.”

Doak is more than just pace, though, clearly showing that he can be effective at speed with his 6.78 progressive carries per game, as well as 1.76 successful dribbles past opposition players.

Most importantly, this dribbling has an end product, creating 2.22 chances per game for his teammates that resulted in 7 assists in the Championship, which would’ve been higher if his season wasn’t cut short due to injury in March.

Reportedly available for £25m, Doak might not be a guaranteed success quite yet, but he has all the building blocks in place to become a Premier League star at Forest.