Championship giants Nottingham Forest are understood to be close to signing Nikola Vukcevic from Primeira Liga outfit Braga.
Though the arrival of Aitor Karanka in January went some way to solving Nottingham Forest’s biggest problem, the defence remains an ongoing concern for City Ground supporters.
Forest conceded the second most goals in the Championship (72) during the 2016/17 season as they were forced to wait until the final day to secure their survival. And Forest let in another 65 in 2017/18 despite hiring the arch-pragmatist Karanka in place of the free-flowing Mark Warburton.
But the defence cannot take all the blame. There is certainly an argument to be made that Forest lacked legs or bite in central midfield, though the additions of Ben Watson and the now departed Jack Colback in January helped in that regard.
The former European Cup winners have simply been too open, too easy to play though in recent times, lacking that pragmatic streak in the centre of the park. The addition of Nikola Vukcevic, then, could have a huge impact.
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A Bola reports that Jorge Mendes is close to bringing another player to the City Ground in Braga’s 26-year-old Montenegrin international. Vukcevic is a defensive midfielder by trade, a tough-tackling and hard-working player who looks to be exactly the sort of man Nottingham Forest need.
Now, a record of 12 yellow cards in all competitions last season is not usually seen as a positive thing, but perhaps Vukcevic is the man needed to break up opposition attacks and bring real streetwise smarts in the centre of the park.
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