Nottingham Forest hijack £50m Man City deal and offload record signing in Leicester January window template
Nottingham Forest are channelling the Leicester miracle so must now copy their January transfer window, which is bad for Pep Guardiola and a record signing.
It was the most freakish of seasons, an unfathomably perfect storm never to be repeated. But almost a decade on from the Leicester fairytale, another mythical title challenge is brewing in the East Midlands.
Nottingham Forest were never 5,000-1 shots to win the Premier League in the summer but there are unavoidable parallels to their rise and that of the Foxes in 2015/16, not least their identical points totals after 20 games in their respective seasons.
Nuno Espirito Santo has crashed through the 40-point mark in early January, bouncing back from ignominious failure at a Big Six club like Claudio Ranieri before him. Both sides battled relegation in the campaigns before their stunning ascent up the table. They even shared the honour of having Chris Wood on their books, although Leicester foolishly sold the 23-year-old to Leeds for £3m in the summer of 2015 instead of forming the single most effective strike partnership in the sport’s history alongside Jamie Vardy.
But what can Nottingham Forest learn from how Leicester treated their unlikely status as title challengers in the January transfer window? Are there any steps they should follow to recreate the magic in mid-season? Maybe five of them to round out a light-hearted feature for which the author should be mercilessly abused in the comments?
Keep the star players
It seems an obvious piece of advice but it must be tempting to cash in on certain stock which might never be as high again.
“Nobody goes from Leicester,” was the line from Ranieri on New Year’s Day 2016, with the Italian reiterating: “We are a solid team and we want to continue together with everybody.”
Interest in Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater and Kasper Schmeichel was batted away by a side which harnessed that unity and collectivism like no other.
Forest could easily manufacture a £70m auction for Murillo but talks over a new contract are progressing. Manchester City are sniffing around Ola Aina so his one-year option will be triggered with a view to a long-term solution. Liverpool have been linked with Morgan Gibbs-White but neither Forest nor their attacking lynchpin seem interested in exploring that avenue.
The vultures might swoop at the end of the season when the natural food chain is reactivated – Kante left for Chelsea soon after the title was won – but Forest will hold out until the summer at least.
Target a record signing
The focus will instead be on exploiting potentially fleeting improbable brilliance to try and consolidate their position. Sitting third and in a race for European qualification at the very least opens doors which were closed to a side battling relegation in the summer.
Leicester tried to take advantage, fixing their sights on a new striker to ease the goalscoring burden on Vardy and Mahrez. There was speculation over a move for Ahmed Musa and rumours over Italian international Eder, as well as reported record bids for AC Milan forward M’Baye Niang and Chelsea bench man Loic Remy.
Neither came to fruition so Leicester instead broke their transfer record three times in the summer they spent as Premier League champions, including a £16m deal for Musa and a ludicrous £28m spent on Islam Slimani.
Perhaps Forest could revisit their fascination with Omar Marmoush and implement a good-old fashioned hijack for Manchester City’s January transfer priority.
Offload a record signing
The record Leicester had hoped to break was set the previous January when Andrej Kramaric joined for £9m from Rijeka.
He came, he almost definitely didn’t get on with Nigel Pearson, he scored two goals in 13 Premier League games as part of a startling relegation battle turnaround, he barely played under Ranieri and conquered only the bench.
After being consigned to League Cup duty for the first half of a remarkable season, Kramaric pursued an exit and moved to Hoffenheim first on loan, then permanently in the summer.
Forest probably won’t try and shift Gibbs-White but Taiwo Awoniyi might grow tired of the bench and fellow former record signing Emmanuel Dennis is not even eligible to make it that far after being omitted from their 24-man Premier League squad.
Sign a relative unknown defender
Despite their best efforts, Leicester never really capitalised on their situation in the winter window. The three signings they made were modest options available to them months before
Daniel Iversen was a youth keeper and neither Demarai Gray nor Daniel Amartey played nearly enough to qualify for a Premier League winner’s medal.
Amartey was the most expensive acquisition at £5m but Forest might relate to the issue Leicester faced in trying to tempt players to join when the starting XI is so well-defined.
Nuno’s side still want another forward as well as depth on the wing, with a left-footed centre-half their final target for the perfect window. The suggestion is that Barcelona youth product and current Anderlecht defender Moussa N’Diaye might fit that bill.
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Watch rivals sign no-one of note
But ultimately one of the keys to Leicester’s success was the inactivity of their closest rivals. At the end of January 2016, five points separated the top four of the Foxes, Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham.
The other three between them spent £5.25m in that winter window, the majority of which went on Mo Elneny with the rest going towards the capture of City Football Group pawn Anthony Caceres. The title was there to be bought by Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham but none went for it, collectively being outspent by Leicester.
Forest could be as ambitious as they like in January but they would still need Liverpool’s self-imposed transfer ban to continue while Arsenal persist in not signing A Proper Striker.