Nottingham Forest: Talks open for Kelechi Iheanacho

The Reds could be in the market for another new forward this summer.

Nottingham Forest are in talks over a summer swoop to sign Leicester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho.

 

What’s the latest Nottingham Forest transfer news?

The Reds and Steve Cooper made close to 30 signings during the 2022/23 season following their return to the Premier League, and the club managed to avoid an immediate return to the second tier.

However, the club is yet to really make its mark in the window this summer, with the only real piece of business seeing Chris Wood’s loan move becoming permanent from Newcastle United.

The Reds could soon be on the search for another attacking addition, though, especially with Premier League rivals Brentford confident of signing Brennan Johnson. Forest has already rejected a £30m offer from the Bees for the Wales international, but they will consider accepting an offer in the region of £50m.

As a result, the club has been linked with a move for Iheanacho, who was a part of the Foxes side that suffered relegation last season.

According to journalist Santi Aouna in the last 48 hours, Forest has recently opened talks over a move for Iheanacho and has made the Leicester man a top target. The Reds are even hoping to seal a deal in the next few days.

“Nottingham Forest have opened talks to sign Kelechi Iheanacho from Leicester.

“He’s on top of the list. Nottingham wants to close the deal in the next few days.”

Who is Kelechi Iheanacho?

Iheanacho has been on the books at the King Power Stadium since 2017 after leaving Manchester City. Since then, the Nigeria international has made 206 appearances for his current employers in all competitions, scoring 55 times, one of which came at the City Ground in a FA Cup clash.

The 26-year-old is into the final 12 months of his Foxes deal and is valued at €18m by Transfermarkt, so a deal could be there to be done for the left-footed forward.

He is known for his quality in front of goal, and back in 2021, following a goal against Crystal Palace, former forward Tony Cottee hailed Iheanacho as “class”.

“With Kelechi, you’ve got that class. If you watch the slow-motion, you’ll see him take just a little glance up. His head goes up, ‘Where is the goal?’. What am I going to do?’ and he just made it look so easy.”

“That’s the biggest compliment I can pay him. If you can just stroke and side-foot the ball past the goalkeeper, you’re doing something right, and it shows you’ve got a special talent.

“So let’s give him praise for two things: the closing down and then the quality of the finish.”

As per FBref, Iheanacho has been compared to the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi, Marcus Rashford, and Christopher Nkunku in the last year, and he even ranks in the top 2% of forwards for assists, showing he has more to his game than just goals.

Therefore, should Johnson leave, bringing in an experienced Premier League striker like Iheanacho could be a wise move, and by the looks of things, it could be one to keep an eye on over the coming days.