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Nottingham Post
Nottingham Post
Sport
Matt Davies

Last minute striker search and pressure to sell but Nottingham Forest finally have transfer plan

Mohamed Drager, Miguel Angel Guerrero, Cafu, Stefanos Kapino, Panagiotis Tachtsidis and Andreas Bouchalakis.

The list of players Nottingham Forest have signed from Olympiacos since Evangelos Marinakis took over the club is not actually that long, but neither is it too pretty.

The move from Greece to the City Ground had become a symbol of Forest's flawed transfer policy, with only Cafu yet to achieve a degree of success with the Reds, although Bouchalakis has flourished with his current club (guess who?).

Drager joined Forest in the summer and is yet to make an appearance, while another player who failed to kick a ball, Rodrigo Ely, left by mutual consent yesterday.

Of course, not every signing will come off, but there is a fresh dawn at Forest it seems.

Recruitment is now led by chief executive Dane Murphy. Perhaps it is in part a measure of his skill set that Barnsley have tumbled down the table since he left Oakwell at the end of last season.

Murphy has assembled a strong team in his own image and that of head coach Steve Cooper.

George Syrianos, an expert in player analytics, serves as head of recruitment, while Forest brought in Andy Scott in January. He held the same role at Brentford and under Cooper at Swansea.

An architect of Brentford's signing of Ollie Watkins and Neal Maupay, he has assumed the role of head of scouting at Forest with the recruitment team rounded off by former Wigan head of football operations Chris Brass.

Miltiadis Marinakis has also taken on a more prominent role of late at Forest, serving as the representative of his father.

It is a far cry from the days which preceded Murphy as Forest completed signings like bullets from a gun.

True, they were busy in January with five players coming in. However, they had to be nimble with the last two of those coming on deadline day in Sam Surridge and Jonathan Panzo after injuries to Lewis Grabban, Joe Worrall and Steve Cook.

A striker is not thought to have been on the agenda until Grabban hobbled off at Cardiff, but Forest acted quickly, spending £2.2m on Surridge, a player who spent time under Cooper on loan at Swansea.

He struggled at Stoke City after being a top summer target for them and has only scored a total of 18 goals for the Potters, Swansea and Bournemouth.

Seven of those came in 23 games for Swansea. Surridge has spoken of needing a club to call home.

He is understood to be a quiet character and Cooper's man management skills could get the best out of a player some have written off, despite him being aged just 23.

Plenty among us wrote off Djed Spence and before him Michail Antonio.

Given the timescale at hand, Surridge was likely the best possible outcome, with Forest also testing the waters with an ambitious bid for Antoine Semenyo, a striker Bristol City reportedly value at £20m. In years gone by another version of Guerrero would probably have arrived at the last minute. This time there was a coherent plan, if a hastily executed one.

Surridge, Panzo, Keinan Davis, Steve Cook and Richie Laryea should represent good business. Laryea is yet to play but fits Murphy requirements and received a glowing endorsement from former Red Jim Brennan.

Perhaps as importantly as smart signings was a resolve to keep players.

It looked for months that Djed Spence would go back to Middlesbrough, but Forest were able to renegotiate his loan until the end of the season.

Worrall also remained, although his injury may have aided the club indirectly when it came to keeping him.

Most impressive was the decision to knock back Brentford's offers for Brennan Johnson, with the latter widely reported to be £18m with further incentives.

Discussions between the club's hierarchy saw the deal rejected with Forest resolved to keep the Wales international at least until this summer.

Brennan Johnson in action for Nottingham Forest against Barnsley (Getty)

Major efforts were made to sign a winger in the shape of Josh Bowler or Jed Wallace with offers until the last knockings of the window.

Forest would have gone to £3m for Bowler, it is understood, to get the deal over the line. It was not to be with Bournemouth said to have seen an offer of that sum knocked back.

Evangelos Marinakis made his millions in shipping and sending a few more fringe players into the sunset is not to be sniffed at given previous struggles in this area. Lyle Taylor, Joao Carvalho and Carl Jenkinson will all hope to benefit from fresh starts.

Young players like Tyrese Fornah were loaned out to gain minutes, while winger Ateef Konate was retained despite interest in his signature on loan.

In a previous interview, Scott said Brentford's plan was to buy early and sell late as the now Premier League club planned windows in advance. In the long-term Forest seem to be doing to the same.

In the short term they will mount their push for the play-offs with what it is fair to say is a stronger squad than when the year began. The owner has pumped in a huge amount of money and resisted the temptation to recoup a chunk now to his credit.

If they fall short this season then it is reasonable to expect Johnson to go and perhaps Worrall as well, even though experienced players like Grabban, Gaetan Bong and Jenkinson will see their contracts expire in the summer. Players have ambitions and FFP demands have to be met with the Reds lowering the age profile and wage bill of the squad since Murphy arrived.

At least now fans can look forward to the coming months with optimism, something which felt impossible during the final days of Chris Hughton.

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