There was a mass furore the last time the Reds tried to sign the 32-year-old.
Cardiff City’s Peter Whittingham scores their first goal from the penalty spot
With a summer of upheaval on the horizon for Nottingham Forest, and with several players set to both depart and sign irrespective of what league the Reds are in, new boss Mark Warburton could do a lot worse than revisit a notorious transfer target of years gone by.
In 2010, Forest’s pursuit of Cardiff City’s Peter Whittingham – then in his last year of contract – has lived in folklore as an example of shambolic behind the scenes running of the club, at least until owner Fawaz Al Hasawi rewrote the book on that subject, as Forest were accused of tapping the player up, as reported by BBC Sport.
Ultimately, Whittingham stayed put at Cardiff, and has remained there ever since. It was a move that worked out as the former Aston Villa man won promotion to the Premier League with the Bluebirds in 2013, and Whittingham has made 452 appearances – scoring 98 goals – in all competitions for City.
However, Whittingham – who has six goals and six assists in 32 Championship appearances this season – is out of contract in the summer and is yet to sign a new deal, despite there being one on the table for him, and Cardiff boss Neil Warnock recently admitted that contract talks had stalled, as reports Wales Online.
Cardiff’s Peter Whittingham scores their first goal
With the futures of Chris Cohen and David Vaughan in doubt at Forest, with both of them out of contract with no sign of new deals on the horizon, the chance to snap up a highly experienced midfielder who can still perform – and perform well – at Championship level should be taken with both hands.
Obviously, this depends on whether Forest remain in the Championship – with the club just two points above the drop zone with six games left to play – but if they did, then finally signing Whittingham would represent great business.
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