Nottingham Forest in contact to sign £25m “menace”

It has certainly been a busy week for Nottingham Forest. Whilst the future of attacking midfield talisman, Morgan Gibbs-White, is up in the air, as he awaits a potential move to Tottenham Hotspur, they have lost one of their other star forward players, Anthony Elanga.

The Sweden international joined Premier League rivals Newcastle United from Forest, where he has played for two seasons. Whilst they did make a large profit of £40m from the original signing of the Manchester United academy star back in 2023, there is no doubt that losing the 23-year-old is a huge blow to Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

Now, the hunt for his replacement must commence, with the East Midlands side seemingly eying up another Premier League player.

Forest’s search for an Elanga replacement

Replacing a player as impactful as Elanga will not be easy, but with the money Forest made on the sale, it does give them plenty of options. They have already been linked with a couple of names, but someone else has seemingly joined the list.

According to a recent report from The Express, the East Midlands outfit have ‘have joined the race’ to sign Liverpool and Scotland international winger Ben Doak. The higher-ups at the City ground have ‘identified Doak as one of the options’ to replace Elanga.

However, this is not going to be a straightforward deal to do. Forest are not the only side to have made contact after registering their interest in the teen, with Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Everton all reportedly enquiring about his availability earlier in the summer.

A fee of £25m would be the minimum required for Liverpool to sell their starlet, according to the report.

Why Doak would be a good signing

The fact that Doak is already a Scotland international at just 19 years of age shows just how talented he is. Football scout Antonio Mango described him as a “menace”, and he showed exactly why for Middlesbrough on loan last season.

The winger, who was born in Dalry, North Ayrshire, made 24 Championship appearances for Michael Carrick’s side last term. Notching up 1789 minutes, the equivalent of 19 full 90-minute games, he impressed with three goals and seven assists. That left him with a total of ten goal involvements in 19 games.

That was his first real taste of first-team football, despite making 12 senior appearances for Liverpool and Celtic. Described as “a very direct outlet” by football analyst Ben Mattinson, he excels in one-on-one scenarios. Just look at this assist against QPR last term.

Funnily enough, directness is one of Elanga’s biggest traits, too. Many of his best contributions at Forest stemmed from his ability to run relentlessly at opposition defenders.

This assist against Arsenal right at the start of his time at the club perfectly captured that direct nature.

In the end, the 23-year-old departed the City Ground with 82 appearances to his name in that famous Garibaldi Red shirt. He scored 11 goals and registered 21 assists, with 17 of those contributions coming in the 2024/25 campaign.

So, in terms of directness, Doak seems to be a great option to replace Elanga. That is further reinforced when looking at the stats from last season, which stack up well in favour of the Scotland youngster.

When looking at the underlying data on FBref, the Liverpool talent averages 2.22 key passes and 6.77 progressive carries each game, compared to 1.8 key passes and 3.67 progressive carries per 90 minutes for Elanga.

Those numbers certainly suggest Doak will be able to maintain the creative output of Elanga, who notched up 11 assists last term. He certainly seems like a fantastic option to replace the Sweden star, based on the numbers.

For just £25m, Doak could help bolster this Forest side, now weaker without Elanga, in a deal that seems like an absolute bargain.

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