Nottingham Forest are crying out for attacking additions – perhaps Mark Warburton should remember Ross County’s Liam Boyce from his Rangers days.
Despite succeeding in Scotland, there is no guarantee that Liam Boyce would hit the ground running if he moved south of the border this summer.
After all, the high-profile struggles of Kris Boyd, Stevie May and, most recently, Greg Stewart, ruthlessly highlighted the gulf in quality between the Scottish top flight and the English Championship.
Yet, it appears that Liam Boyce is worth the risk. According to the Daily Record, there’s no shortage of interest from England’s second tier in the Ross County goal machine. And you wonder whether Nottingham Forest will be among them.
After all, manager Mark Warburton is all too familiar with Boyce’s talents.
The Northern Irishman may not have found the net in February’s 1-1 draw with Warburton’s previous employers Rangers, but his performance was one of a line-leading masterclass.
Displaying superb link play, excellent vision and the ability to drop off and influence proceedings from a deeper position highlighted Boyce’s extensive skill-set. The 26-year-old is more than just a goalscorer.
Golden Boot
Though that’s not to say he’s far from prolific. Quite the opposite in fact. Boyce’s brace in the final day win at Kilmarnock secured the Golden Boot at the expense of Celtic’s marquee signing Scott Sinclair.
He hit 23 goals in 34 league games – meaning he’s now broken the 20 goal barrier two seasons running in all competitions.
And while fortifying a dodgy defence should be top of Warburton’s priorities during a busy summer at the City Ground, Forest could certainly do with a goalscorer of Boyce’s instinctive excellence.
Britt Assombalonga (below) may have secured Forest’s survival with 14 league goals but the fact the injury-prone goal-machine has only started 20 games in 2016/17 is a concern. And, beyond him, only Apostalos Vellios and Henri Lansbury netted more than five.
The former is expected to leave, the latter already has.
Therefore, Warburton should put his knowledge to good use and give Boyce the chance to save the reputation of Scottish-based strikers.
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