Steve Cooper will forever be remembered as a modern-day legend by some Nottingham Forest supporters.
Given that Forest have won two European Cups in back-to-back seasons, he clearly doesn’t hold a torch to Brian Clough, but in restoring Premier League football for the first time in 23 years back in 2021/22, he deserves his flowers.
Is Givairo Read the right player to provide competition for Ola Aina?
How would you rate this signing out of 10?
Cooper took Forest from the bottom of the Championship to the Premier League in a matter of months and bought into the ethos of not only the football club but also the city of Nottingham.
Since his sacking in 2023, Forest have been through a number of managers, but now one of his transfer decisions from 2022 looks like a masterstroke of epic proportions.
Steve Cooper deserves credit for Neco Williams signing
Eyebrows were raised when Cooper swooped to replace Tottenham-bound Djed Spence with Neco Williams, who was a £18 million signing from Liverpool.
The youngster was relatively raw, and it appeared as though his signing would be a risky one given his lack of experience.
In the early stages of his Forest career, he wasn’t always considered a regular in the team, with Serge Aurier operating at right-back during the 2022/23 campaign.
Since moving to left-back, however, Williams has been in fantastic form, so much so that reports claim Manchester United and Newcastle have both enquired about the Welsh performer.
The links highlight that Cooper had a clear eye for a quality youngster and given it was the same head coach who landed Morgan Gibbs-White, Forest owe an awful lot to their former boss for some of his recruitment.
Forest under no pressure to sell Williams
Thankfully, Williams has three years to run on his existing Forest contract and the Reds are actually keen to extend it further.
The Wales international was unlucky to miss out on the World Cup with his country as they lost in the qualifiers, but after playing a lot of games in 2025/26, he will benefit from the break.
What should Oliver Glasner’s target be in the Premier League this season? 🤔
It’s always nice when clubs are chasing your players with big fees mooted, but with Anderson gone, the challenge for Forest now is to strengthen the squad, not further decrease the quality available to Glasner.
Williams has three years left on his existing deal and that is music to the ears of Forest, with Newcastle and United likely to be left frustrated in their attempts to snare him this summer.
Receive a digest of our best Nottingham Forest content each week direct to your mailbox
