Who is Nicolo Savona? Meet Nottingham Forest’s Italian defender scouted by Manchester City

Add as preferred source on Google

Nottingham Forest have confirmed the signing of Italian international defender Nicolo Savona, who has signed a five-year contract at the City Ground.

Forest agreed a deal to sign Savona after an extensive search for cover at right-back, with Ola Aina the only senior option available to Nuno Espírito Santo.

In fact, Espírito Santo publicly requested a new right-back as one of the final pieces of the puzzle in the transfer window, alongside a left-back and a goalkeeper.

Now, with Savona officially announced as a Forest player, here is a rundown of all you need to know about the Reds’ newest addition to Nuno’s squad.

Who is Nicolo Savona?

Nicolo Savona was born on the 19th of March 2003 in Aosta, Italy. Having joined the Juventus academy at 8 years old, he worked through the Italian giants’ youth ranks before making the switch to Forest.

Nicolo Savona height

Savona stands at a remarkable six-foot-four as a right back, giving him the frame of a defender more suited to playing in the centre of a backline.

• Jair Cunha (6’6″)
• Nikola Milenkovic (6’5″)
• Willy Boly (6’5″)
• Morato (6’4″)

In terms of the rest of the Forest defence, Savona is slightly shorter than Willy Boly and Nikola Milenkovic, but alongside them, he’d help form an imposing backline.

Nicolo Savona style of play

Given his size and previous experience at centre-back, Savona is not going to be the most natural attacking full-back, but his statistics from the 24/25 campaign show that he’s more than capable on the ball.

Especially with his impressive lack of miscontrols, it’s clear that Forest’s new man will be assured on the ball, while perhaps not as dynamic as someone like Aina.

Nicolo Savona Manchester City

The Italian will hope to make an impact in the Premier League for Forest, but before the transfer, Savona was a target for Pep Guardiola and Man City.

According to Foot Mercato in May 2025, City made a move to sign Savona as one of their preferred options for the right-back role, but he was behind a couple of preferred targets.

However, given Guardiola’s unwavering demand for players comfortable with the ball at their feet, it’s a good omen for the Reds that Savona was even considered by the iconic Spanish boss.

Nicolo Savona squad number

As he did at Juventus, Savona will wear the number 37 for Nottingham Forest. The last to wear the same number for the Reds was Rodrigo Ribeiro, who spent time on loan at the City Ground in the 23/24 campaign.

Does Nicolo Savona have Instagram?

Nottingham Forest fans can keep up to date with the Italian’s life on Instagram, where he posts mostly about his football career to over 170,000 followers.