Former Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka reportedly wanted to bring Girona’s La Liga striker Stuani back to the Championship with Nottingham Forest.
Perhaps typically of an Aitor Karanka team, Nottingham Forest have struggled to convert their impressive creative prowess into goals this season.
Forest’s new-look side have won just one of their four Championship matches and have scored just five goals too. The experienced Lewis Grabban should prove to be a good addition in time but, behind him, Daryl Murphy has scored just once since last November while Ben Brereton hasn’t featured at all in 2018/19.
So perhaps Nottingham Forest should have sealed the chance to sign Karanka’s former striker when they had the opportunity. According to TEAMtalk, the Spaniard wanted to bring one-time Middlesbrough forward Cristhian Stuani back to England in June.
And the early signs suggest that Forest could be missing a player with the Uruguayan’s penalty box presence. 31-year-old Stuani scored a remarkable 21 goals for La Liga newcomers Girona last season after all.
Now, however, it seems that Stuani is en route to bigger things with Champions League outfit Marseille considering triggering his £13 million release clause, according to Marca, and end their summer-long search for a centre-forward.
With the deadline passed for permanent transfers, Forest have missed their chance to sign a physical and mobile targetman of Stuani’s skill-set and Karanka will be hoping he doesn’t end up regretting this.
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