Molde midfielder Fouad Bachirou is set to sign an initial two-year deal with Nottingham Forest as his move to the City Ground edges closer, according to France Football.
While Sabri Lamouchi’s side have so far focused on brining in players with a proven track-record at Championship level, Jack Colback, Tyler Blackett and former Charlton Athletic talisman Lyle Taylor, Bachirou will arrive from Scandinavia rather than Berkshire or Tyneside.
Expressen reported on Monday that Forest have agreed a £600,000 fee with Molde.
And reports from France have backed that up today, suggesting that the one-time Paris Saint-Germain youngster will sign a contract until 2022 with an option for a further year should he impress in Garibaldi red.
The 30-year-old Comoros international is certainly something of a late-bloomer and it remains to be seen whether he will thrive in Britain again, having enjoyed an impressive four-year spell at Greenock Morton north of the border from 2010 to 2014.
Bachirou also thrived under current Brighton boss Graham Potter at Ostersunds, after honing his ball-winning talents alongside the legendary Claude Makelele at PSG.
“Makelele was the best in the world in his position for many years so to learn from him was a real honour,” Bachirou told BBC Sport recently.
“Like him I was a small central midfielder and I had actually been rejected by Auxerre and Nice when I was younger because they didn’t think I was big enough.
“It used to be that everyone wanted tall, powerful midfielders like Patrick Vieira but Makelele changed that – he was the exception, the small guy in midfield who could still win a lot of balls, and influence the game.
“He made me believe I could make it.”
Bachirou could potentially replace Ben Watson, the 35-year-old veteran who enjoyed his best season in years under Lamouchi but now faces an uncertain future at the City Ground.
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