According to the Evening Standard, Nottingham Forest want to sign Harry Winks from Tottenham after Leeds and Everton walked away from negotiations.
What’s the story?
Well, Antonio Conte is keen to sell the England international before the September 1st deadline, following the arrival of Rodrigo Bentancur in January and Yves Bissouma in June.
Leeds and Everton both expressed an interest in Winks, although the Whites and the Toffees backed away from the deal due to a lack of progression in talks.
Southampton have also been monitoring the Tottenham No.8’s situation.
Now, Steve Cooper is interested in bringing Winks to the City Ground.
The Evening Standard believe the 26-year-old has been training alone at Hotspur Way since the start of pre-season as he aims to leave Tottenham, with Sampdoria also interested in his services.
However, Winks is unsure about a move abroad at this stage of his career, and would prefer to stay in England.
The Evening Standard add that Leicester were also eyeing the Spurs academy graduate, but just like Leeds and Everton, they soon cooled their interest.
Nottingham Forest must follow Leeds & Everton
In our view, Cooper needs to copy Jesse Marsch and Frank Lampard in deciding against a move for Winks.
Cooper already has to work out how he’s going to get Remo Freuler, Cheikhou Kouyate, Morgan Gibbs-White, Orel Mangala, Lewis O’Brien and Jesse Lingard into his midfield, so the last thing he needs is another option.
Additionally, Winks is said to earn £91,000-a-week at Tottenham, a salary which Nottingham Forest shouldn’t even think about paying for a player they don’t really need.
That goes without mentioning that £20m asking price set by the north Londoners.
Winks is a tidy footballer, but he isn’t a significant upgrade on any of the aforementioned midfielders already at the City Ground – therefore, Nottingham Forest should join Leeds and Everton in abandoning their interest.
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