Coach Steve Cooper reveals that Nottingham Forest’s summer of lavish expenditure represents their best chance of staying in the Premier League.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid relegation, the newly promoted team shelled out an astounding £165 million on 21 players during the summer transfer window.
Forest boss Steve Cooper has defended their tactics despite the unheard-before spending spree, saying they have “embraced the unique challenge” of staying up.
“There will always be a turnover with players coming and going, but never as many as this summer,” he claimed.
“It’s nice to know that most of the players you’ve got in are your own.
“That’s important to me, especially as there’s quite a lot of players in there who have still got a lot of time ahead of them.
“They are still shaping their careers and their profile of player.”
“It’s been a fairly unique summer, in terms of the turnaround. It was always going to be a unique challenge with the numbers, then added to getting promotion and a different level of player that you have to look at. We’ve embraced that.”
More than Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Paris Saint-Germain combined, Forest spent a staggering amount of money in the just concluded summer transfer window.
In terms of spending, it also puts the club back among the elite clubs in Europe, surpassing all the clubs in the Dutch top-flight combined.
Following a 23-year hiatus from the first division, Forest gained promotion through the play-offs in May, and owner and shipping mogul Evangelos Marinakis told Nottingham he would give their team “ammunition” to succeed.
In addition, the Greek has made staggering transfer expenditures of £163.4 million, which is a record for a Premier League team that has just been promoted.
Forest’s spending places fourth in the English Premier League, behind West Ham, Chelsea, and Manchester United.
The most notable additions were Jesse Lingard on a free transfer from Manchester United and Morgan Gibbs-White, who was acquired from Wolves for an initial fee of £25 million, but whose total cost may reach £42.5 million with attainable add-ons and additional bonuses.
Following promotion, Nottingham Forest has signed the following players for this season:
Morgan Gibbs-White, Emmanuel Dennis, Taiwo Awoniyi, Neco Williams, Orel Mangala, Remo Freuler, Moussa Niakhaté, Omar Richards, Brandon Aguilera, Lewis O’Brien, Giulian Biancone, Harry Toffolo, Hwang Ui-jo, Cheikhou Kouyaté, Jesse Lingard, Wayne Hennessey, Dean Henderson, Renan Lodi, Josh Bowler, Willy Boly, and Loic Bade.
The team has won against West Ham, tied with Everton, and dropped the remaining matches so far in the Premier League. With four points from their first six games, Forest presently holds the 19th-place ranking in the Premier League.
Steve Cooper
Cooper started his coaching career while playing as a defender in the Welsh football leagues at the Wrexham academy. He relocated to Liverpool in 2008, and in 2011 he was given the position of academy manager there.
Cooper began working with the England youth program in 2014, originally leading the U16s before leading the U17s to the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup victory. He took over as Swansea City’s head coach in 2019 and Nottingham Forest’s in 2021.
Nottingham Forest
West Bridgford, Nottingham, England is home to the association football team Nottingham Forest Football Club. The football club was established in 1865, and from 1898, home matches have been held at the City Ground on the banks of the River Trent.
One of two English teams to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League back-to-back, Forest is one of four English clubs with multiple titles in the competition. To honor their two European Cup titles, Forest has two stars above their club crest.
Two European Cups, one UEFA Super Cup, one League title, two FA Cups, four League Cups, and one FA Charity Shield have all been won by Nottingham Forest.
