Nottingham Forest have been linked with Burney’s Dean Marney.
According to several reports, Nottingham Forest are interested in signing Burnley’s Dean Marney this summer and boss Aitor Karanka admitted as much when speaking to reporters of the Nottingham Post.
He said: “I like and I am interested in every single good player – and he is a good player. I had a lot of fights with him when he was at Burnley.”
Marney, 34, would add to Forest’s midfield ranks and provide them with a player with vast experience, playing over 200 league games and achieving promotion to the Premier League with the Clarets.
Karanka likes to have experience in his midfield, evident from his time at Middlesbrough, and he bolstered that area last January with the additions of Jack Colback on loan, Ben Watson and Adlene Guedioura.
With youngsters Matty Cash and Ben Osbourne plus Liam Bridcutt as other potential central midfield options, Forest are well stocked in that area therefore the interest in Marney may come as somewhat of a surprise.
On the face of it, though, the Reds have room for improvement in the middle of the park and that’s largely because both Watson and Guedioura have failed to really impress since their arrivals.
| Tackles per game | Interceptions per game | Ball Recoveries per game | Touches per game | Accurate Passes per game | Key Passes per game | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liam Bridcutt | 1.52 | 1.56 | 6.84 | 76.72 | 52.32 | 0.88 |
| Jack Colback | 1.36 | 0.79 | 5.86 | 56.71 | 39.57 | 0.79 |
| Ben Watson | 1.31 | 1.08 | 6.54 | 69.15 | 48.62 | 1.15 |
| Adlène Guédioura | 0.5 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 34.7 | 17 | 0.5 |
As shown by the table provided by Opta, Bridcutt betters the experienced duo in almost every category per Championship fixture while Colback is also shown to have performed to a solid standard.
Guedioura, however, has largely disappointed in his eight appearances since returning to Forest and Karanka’s interest in Marney suggests he may have made a mistake in signing the Algeria international last January.
The 32-year-old played 40 games for Forest in the 2012/13 campaign, impressing at the City Ground, but he now looks a shadow of his former self and has featured sporadically over the past two seasons.
Forest gave him a contract until 2021, a risk considering his age, and they are in danger of being stuck with a player whose better days are behind him and is ultimately only interested in his final paycheck.
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