Nottingham Forest in talks with Serie A champion, also make £7m bid

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Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest are in talks to sign AC Milan’s Serie A champion Fode Ballo-Toure and have also made a bid for Atalanta flyer Hans Hateboer, according to FootMercato and Tuttomercatoweb. 

You could almost make an entire matchday squad out of the players Forest have signed since beating Huddersfield Town in May’s play-off final, Morgan Gibbs-White becoming addition number 16 when he arrived in a club-record deal from Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

But some context is required.

Forest need a lot of players, because they lost a lot of players. This was a squad heavily reliant upon loanees last term, after all, while the likes Brice Samba, Tobias Figueredo and Joe Lolley have also departed. 

Furthermore, Forest have now lost both Omar Richards and Moussa Niakhate to injuries. Hency why Fode Ballo-Toure, a Serie A winner with AC Milan last season, has suddenly registered on their radar. 

Nottingham Forest target Serie A duo

Per FootMercato, Nottingham Forest are in talks with the 20-year-old’s agent. What’s more, the 25-year-old Senegal international left-back is available for just £4 million. Ball-Toure started just five games during what looks set to be his one and only full season at the San Siro. 

According to Tuttomercatoweb, Forest have also made a £7 million loan-to-buy bid for Atalanta’s Hateboer. Attack-minded and adventurous, the 13-cap Dutchman looks well suited to Steve Cooper’s wing-back formation, having impressed in a similar set-up at Atalanta. 

Interestingly, Hateboer played with Remo Freuler – one of Forest’s many new arrivals – in Bergamo. The two-time European champions are also admirers of another Atalanta ace, Ruslan Malinovskyi.

The 29-year-old with a penchant for long-range wondergoals appears to have his heart set on Tottenham Hotspur instead, however. 

”(Malinovskyi) has been extraordinary for us,” Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini said after the Ukrainian marked what could be his farewell appearance with a goal in a 1-1 draw against Milan. 

“He has been great at adapting, he has done some very good things. But it’s right for Atalanta to look for a player who scores more than six goals. He has adapted very well. But it’s right that in the market the club looks for players with characteristics more suitable for the game.”