Latest Nottingham Forest transfer news as Steve Cooper’s Reds eye signings before deadline day.

Nottingham Forest have a big week coming up as transfer deadline day looms and they prepare for a couple of testing away games.

The Reds got Premier League points on the board by beating Sheffield United 2-1 last Friday night, courtesy of Chris Wood’s late

winner. They will be eager to build on that but face some tough fixtures on the road, with trips to Manchester United and Chelsea next

up in the league.

Off the pitch, the focus is on getting remaining transfer business done before the September 1 deadline. Ins and outs are expected at

the City Ground before the summer window closes.

With all of that in mind, there was plenty to talk about when Reds reporter Sarah Clapson held a live Q&A on our Forest Facebook

page. Here is a look at how it panned out.

In an ideal world, Forest would rebuff any and all offers and he stays put. But the real world isn’t that easy or straight forward. The

kind of figure mentioned above is a lot of money, particularly when there is FFP to consider.

Whether a move would be right, both for him and for Forest, is a different matter. Personally, I think he would benefit from at least

another season of being at the City Ground and from working with Steve Cooper. He’s a young player with so much potential and a

very bright future ahead of him, but he’s not yet the finished article. He would also have to weigh up how much game time he’d be

likely to get at some of the clubs who are interested.

And from Forest’s perspective, you wouldn’t want to lose what he brings to the team and the quality he has. He played a big role in

securing survival last season. He had his ups and downs, as all players – particularly young ones – do, but his goals and his overall

contribution were crucial. The prospect of him continuing to link up with Morgan Gibbs-White, Danilo, Taiwo Awoniyi and now

Anthony Elanga is a really exciting one.

The interest in Johnson is understandable. He’s shown he can cut it at Premier League level.

Forest don’t *want* to sell; they have already rejected two offers from Brentford, after all. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t

– if a club puts a significant amount of money on the table.

I really hope that doesn’t happen late on in the window. You wouldn’t want to be making those kinds of decisions when the pressure is

on in such circumstances. Equally, having talk about Brennan’s future drag on for another week isn’t the best situation – albeit he isn’t

the kind of player to let it affect him.

Everyone wants to see positive, attacking football. Steve Cooper himself has spoken about how he wants to evolve the style of play.

But I do think that is going to take time. It’s not going to happen overnight – getting some more players in to strengthen the squad

would certainly help on that front. As Cooper has pointed out, it’s difficult to judge how Forest can do this season until we know the

squad they will have in place. We are getting to the end of the window, but a few more ins and outs are still likely, and the business

Forest do in these final days will have an impact on what might be possible.

Regardless of what signings they make, though, for these first few away games, it wouldn’t surprise me if there is still some element of

a cautious approach. Improving the away form is also a key goal, but I suspect it’s going to be a case of going slowly and trying to at

least be tough to beat initially.

There’s always a danger when you go away to the really top clubs that if you are too open, you’ll be picked off. Forest have got a really

tough run of away fixtures at the start of this season; they will want to try to pick up some points, but to do that they won’t want to

leave themselves too exposed by tearing forward.

The second half against Arsenal was positive and gives Forest plenty to build on. They showed they can cause problems on the

counterattack. With the pace and attacking threat in the side, there’s no reason why they can’t do that again.

They have got to go to Old Trafford without any fear and believing they can get something. Cooper has made the point that belief will

be key this season, particularly away from home.