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Nottingham Forest Could Replace Lingard With £11m Real Deal
Nottingham Forest will be looking for a much more settled campaign in the Premier League next season and making sure the recruitment is spot on this summer will be essential for improving.
The Garibaldi Reds finished 16th in the top-flight table with four points to spare following a difficult relegation scrap and Steve Cooper will be delighted with the fight his team put up at the business end to retain their status in the top division for another season.
Having said that, there is still plenty of work to be done at the City Ground to establish and cement themselves as a consistent Premier League team who can comfortably compete, so identifying new additions who can make a genuine impact will be essential to improve performances.
Forest confirmed their retained and released list earlier this month with 12 players departing the club this summer, including former Manchester United star Jesse Lingard following a disappointing season on Trentside.
Lingard failed to live up to high expectations during his stint, with the 30-year-old struggling to make the desired impact; tallying up just 17 league appearances and zero goal contributions.
As a result, replacing Lingard with a more prolific presence in front of goal shouldn’t be the most difficult task for the club’s hierarchy and one player who could be a real asset next season is recently linked Manchester City academy star Carlos Borges.
ESPN reported last week that Forest have held ‘preliminary talks’ to sign the youth player this summer, with the Premier League champions valuing him at £11m.
Who is Carlos Borges?
The talented teenager has been going from strength to strength in the treble-winning club’s youth set-up and this season earned the title of Premier League Two Player of the Season due to his incredible output for the U21s.
Over 38 appearances in all competitions, Borges – hailed the “real deal” by journalist Tom Young – scored a whopping 29 goals and registered 18 assists, with a goal contribution every 55 minutes which is an incredible achievement for the youngster who was the outright top-scorer in the entire Premier League Two last season with 21 goals.
Not only that, the Man City left-winger has given glimpses of other key strengths that could make him an incredible asset to Cooper next season – averaging 2.3 shots on target, 1.7 key passes, 2.7 tackles, one successful dribble and 3.7 duels won per game over his three Football League Trophy appearances last term.
The 11-cap Portugal U19 star – dubbed “phenomenal” by Jacek Kulig – now looks to be ready to take the next step into first-team football and Forest could provide him with the opportunity to continue his outstanding development in the forward line at the City Ground next season.
The Tricky Trees have had great success with youthful talent in their forward line as both Brennan Johnson and Morgan Gibbs-White have been a force to be reckoned with in the attacking third – contributing to 26 goals last term – so Cooper could now bolster that energetic presence by deploying Borges alongside the tenacious duo.
With that being said, the signing of Borges would be a no-brainer for Forest this summer and if the young talent could emulate his goal-scoring escapades for Forest he would significantly improve upon Lingard’s impact.
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