Didn’t see it (did anyone else?) - but he’s just randomly been live in the SSN studio. And few people have said that he is quoted as saying that ‘if the club want me stay, I’ll stay.’
Trouble with that is, he's already on reduced wages as it is, and no doubt Forest would have a say in any negotiations going forward. When he's on his A-game, he is clearly one the best strikers for this level and we have seem that in spurts. Unless we get rid of Bayo or Rajovic I cannot see it happening personally. There is also no chance he would want to play third fiddle to those two anyway. Personally I would love it if we retained him for at least next season (and if we actually got promoted he might be an option to buy), however our purse strings are going to be tighter than ever.
I doubt we’d be paying Forest anything in terms of a fee - no doubt they’d dress it up as some sort of ‘undisclosed’ amount but given they will still owe us money for him, it would be more akin to us just writing off what is owed. The speed bump would be if Dennis would really be happy to drop his wages longer term.
No chance at all that the club sign him and see him as behind Bayo and Rajovic. I suspect one or both of them will be off anyway if Cleverley stays in charge. He’s said more than once that the best way to compete is by having a decent striker who scores a good amount of goals - and how he is having to do things differently because we don’t have one. Can’t see him accepting that next season given he’s also said he would be aiming for promotion.
Considering he's firmly established as 3rd choice under Clev to put on simply when we need fresh legs on the pitch, it looks like Rajovic would be his preferred option to move on in order to get Dennis in, although even if we do sign Dennis, it's no guarantee that anyone forks up enough cash for us to sell/loan him (I also don't see any team of any decent stature at all being interested enough to offer us serious money for Bayo neither, he does a job, but not sadly the one of putting the ball in the onion bag!)
‘Udinese are delighted to announce the signing of Emmanuel Dennis from Nottingham Forest on a long-term deal. Yada yada yada, blah blah blah… …Dennis will be spending the 2024/25 season on loan at Watford, where he had a blistering season 2 years ago. Good luck Emmanuel!’
If you’ve got a couple of minutes I’d love to tell you a story about a little club called Charleroi? Nah, you said serious money, not dirty money. But still, I’d wager a fair whack he goes there. I think Rajovic will stay but get little to no game time and head off to Brondby or something come next January.
Sure ok but that's still a significant cost as we will no longer received that sum (assuming its large enough for NF consider acceptable as a fee). We might want to use those funds elsewhere, and as you say I'd be surprised if he accepted a salary that would fit into our new financial model....
As per Burnsy's post above I doubt he would be third fiddle. Plus you're forgetting that he can also play in both of the wide attacking positions in a 433 (assuming that he'd be fit and motivated enough next season to track back more).
Surely now Forest have put up ticket prices to help cover their finances for next season. Wont they be desperate to recoup money for him? Would we be in a position to write off the money still owed by signing him for free. No idea how much it is, but surely it’s already in the books. If Udinese get relegated would they want to get involved as described above? I think it was Brian Clough who said your key signings were a spine of keeper, centre half and centre forward. I expect the clubs thinking is they have Bachmann and Hoedt in place. So it’s the centre forward that they will be looking at. A second season Danny Graham is what we need, but they are not easy to find at our price point. Not sure Dennis is the player we need to improve where we are today. Yes, today he is by far the most talented player available for selection, but that’s not the same as the best signing we need to solidify the squad.
Fair argument. I would rather we have a striker who is maybe not as talented as Dennis, but is a grafter, gives 110% and can make his own goals out of nothing. Something Deeney/Iggy could do in their primes. When Sordell had that purple patch, he was also very clinical and got into good positions. You don't have to be Ronaldo, just know what your strengths are as a striker and work to better yourself for the good of the team moving forward. It also helps if we can keep hold of a good one for more than one season of course.
As you say not a chance we could afford to buy a second season Danny Graham in today’s market. While a deal could be done with NF I’m not sure what value of future instalments we’d be prepared to write off. If we were still owed say £7m, how much of that would we be prepared to waive ? Its real money and could be financed (if it hasn’t been already) and spent on another player.
Gino is always looking for ways to wriggle out of paying for stuff, so surely writing off money owed to himself would his dream scenario!
Exactly. Haven't we already borrowed against his transfer fee? So if we waived the final instalment to get him back, we'd have to find that down the back of the sofa to pay to Macquarie. Sounds like a complicated deal, hopefully we have a reliable agent on hand to help us navigate it. Won't be cheap though...
When he's on his A game. When he's fully fit. He's an expensive signing for a bloke who doesn't consistently perform well, regardless of what the excuse is.
I’m sure Forest probably want to recoup money on him. But not sure how much money you get for someone you overpaid for, and has been farmed out on loan twice and not really done much. Known as a problem-child in Belgium and Germany, didn’t make the cut in a mid-table Turkish side and the Saudi’s only really want big names. And he’s not exactly putting himself in the shop window either. I suspect he will be farmed out on loan repeatedly until he is out of contract personally.
Yeah but we can spend the millions we supposedly made on loaning out Oulare. Thats been down the back of the sofa for years. Hope we have a sell on too. That move to Man Utd is just around the corner.
We did take out a loan from Macquarie in 2022-£4.5m was due by 1st November 2023 and same again on 1 November 2024
If he stays I guarantee he won't be third choice behind those two. I don't see why we need to get rid of one of Bayo or Raj to get him besides them being sh1t. We seem to be playing to up top a fair bit so will need 4 strikers
Unless Forest are prepared to loan him again or let him go for peanuts, i can't see it happening. His wages must be way above Championship level as well.
