Nottingham Forest have missed out on two new signings with Kevin Danso and Simon Terodde sealing moves to Fortuna Dusseldorf and Hamburg respectively.
If the two-time European champions are to right the wrongs of last season and keep their top six place right until the very end, then they are certainly going about it in the right way.
Lyle Taylor on a free transfer looks like a superb bit of business.
The late-blooming striker has scored 32 times in the last two campaigns, including 11 in 22 Championship games for Charlton, and should ease the crushing weight of responsibility that hangs above Lewis Grabban at the City Ground.
At the other end of the pitch, former Reading man Tyler Blackett has arrived to provide cover in a multitude of defensive positions.
Considering that 36-year-old skipper Michael Dawson no longer has the legs to deal with the Championship’s gruelling game-every-three-days schedule, Blackett will surely come in very handy.
Now, Forest had been linked with two players from the Bundesliga before prioritising proven, second-tier talent.
BILD claimed in July that Sabri Lamouchi’s side were interested in Cologne’s 32-year-old, £45,000-a-week benchwarmer Terodde.
As of this afternoon, however, the veteran striker with a stunning record in Germany’s 2.Bundesliga has joined forces with promotion-chasing Hamburg (Kicker).
£5.5 million Austria international centre-back Danso, meanwhile, will be looking to help recently relegated Fortuna seal an immediate return to the top-flight, moving on loan from Augsburg.
HSG24 had reported that both Forest and Watford were interested but, given that he hardly settled in England during a forgettable loan spell at Southampton, the City Ground faithful won’t be losing much sleep as Blackett signs on the dotted line instead.
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