To be fair to Willian, he does seem to be the sort who looks after himself and also quite a good character. If we are selling Brennan then he can give us quality now and maybe allow us to take a punt on a youngster with potential who can be shielded from the pressure of needing an immediate big impact by Willian's presence for a year or two. It is big numbers though, so there is an inherent risk, as with anything.
From Brennan's perspective you can see why he would want to see a significant increase in his position given his impact last season and the arrival on eye watering contracts of people like Wood and Shelvey. From Forest's side our medium term future probably depends on the sales of Brennan, MGW and Danilo over the next couple of years and how successful we are in recruiting against them. We are going to have to be better than we have been in the past at identifying potential and cutting out waste.
Sangare sounds like an exciting possibility. He seems like a good fit for what we are missing, though that is all based on what others are saying about him rather than me having actually seen him play.
I will be very surprised if on 1 Sep 24 more than 1 of Brennan, Danilo & MGW are still Forest players. Maybe all 3 will have gone.
I won’t be all that surprised if one of them goes this window.
Many fans will squeal about “lacking ambition” and say that we should be “building our team around them” and selling the lesser players to fund it. Sadly, modern football simply doesn’t work like that; like around 13 of the clubs in the Premier League, our entire survival and development model depends on making a substantial profit by developing young players.
Brennan is the obvious one to sell first because any fee - which wouldn’t be small - is 100% profit. £50m and he’s gone.
Surridge to Nashville for 5M according to DT. Good deal for us, but if I was a 24yo Prem substitute I might have set my sights a little higher.
And, imho, I reckon we'll be keeping Danilo (would be an astonishing thing to get 6 months from him and make a significant profit) and MGW (the base price would be silly). Brennan at 50M would surely be hard to resist if he's angling for it (to a "proper" club).
Agree with all of that, although I think Nashville is a pretty cool move. Guaranteed playing time, gets to be the big name, and an awesome place to live as a 24 year old.
For sure. I suppose once you've ruled out international caps and Champs League, you can view the game as a fantastic lifestyle. It's why I'm surprised more youngsters haven't done the Steven Taylor/Joe Lolley thing and joined the A-League. But not so much in Wellington if you like the Aussie weather.
I'd happily be guided by those who know more about him, but my (admittedly limited) experience of Gnonto is the game at the City Ground last season when he terrified me every time he got the ball. A full Italian international at the age of 19 too.
I've got a bad feeling about him. I think he might flatter to deceive. He's fast, but I'm unsure about his delivery / actual production in terms of goals and assists. Yet the fact he's already played for Italy does seem to suggest I'm wrong. Though so had Silenzi. A swap for Dennis (rumours) plus a few quid would be great business though if possible.