The £25m dream Nottingham Forest striker signing who could become club's next Van Hooijdonk

Whatever the outcome of their remarkable chase for Champions League qualification, this will be a challenging and crucial summer at the City Ground. Recruit well and keep important players on the books, and perhaps Nottingham Forest could establish themselves as regular contenders for European places. Make the wrong signings, however…

Perhaps the single most important deal that Edu Gaspar and his transfer team negotiate in the coming transfer window will be the near-certain addition of a new striker. Forest have been utterly reliant on Chris Wood this season and while that hasn’t done them any harm yet, at 33 years of age it can’t be assumed that the goals will flow forever.

Forest need a forward who can both back Wood up and, when the time comes – and it won’t be so far in the future – replace him. It’s no surprise, then, to see them linked with a move which would have sounded unimaginable at the start of the season…

Why Dušan Vlahović could be the striker Nottingham Forest need

A new report from TBR Football suggests that Forest are among several Premier League sides in the market for Serbian striker Dušan Vlahović, not long ago considered to be one of the brightest attacking talents in the global game. With a frustrating spell at Juventus set to come to an end, however, he is very much on the market.

The report suggests that with just one year left to run on his contract at the Allianz Stadium, Vlahović could be available for as little as £25m. At that price, the 25-year-old would surely attract plenty of offers, although his wage demands are likely to be high given that Juventus are shopping him around because his expectations exceeded their opinion of his abilities.

Still, if Forest have some Champions League money to spend, he may not be unobtainable, especially as he seems to be relatively far down the pecking order on various other teams’ shortlists. Suggesting that Forest might sign Vlahović would have sounded laughable not so long ago, but it may not be too implausible now. A new Pierre van Hooijdonk could be on the cards.

Still, the reasons that Vlahović could be on the move extend beyond cold hard cash. Since a stunning goalscoring spree at Fiorentina in 2020 and 2021 brought him to global attention, the Serb has frustrated as often as he has hit the back of the net.

Having scored 38 Serie A goals in just one-and-a-half seasons for La Viola, Vlahović has managed just 35 league goals in the last three years. He needs just one more before the end of the 2024/25 campaign to have hit double figures for the fifth successive season and his numbers are hardly poor, but he never hit his former heights in Turin.

There are few question marks over Vlahović’s ability, but plenty over his capacity to make the most of it week in, week out. That may be why reports suggest that he isn’t Forest’s first choice, either, but while they supposedly want Liam Delap or Yoane Wissa, Delap may have better options and Brentford may be no more inclined to sell Wissa than they were in January.

Is Vlahović good enough to replace Chris Wood?

It’s a question that probably would have sounded entirely bizarre not so very long ago, but the simple fact is that Wood has been a better and certainly more trustworthy striker over the past couple of years.

Vlahović has performed – and scored – in fits and starts, but he has never maintained consistently high standards at Juve and his form has ebbed and flowed in deeply frustrating fashion.

There is no doubt that the ceiling he possesses in far above that of Wood, or indeed of most forwards in Europe, but he touches it infrequently while Wood keeps scoring, and scoring. On a minute-by-minute basis, the New Zealander has scored twice as often as Vlahović this season, and has been far more efficient when compared to his expected goals.

Vlahović is perhaps a more well-rounded player and certainly a better technician, while giving nothing away to a striker like Wood in terms of his physical presence. At 6’3”, the Serbian is more than capable of using his size and strength to create space and bully smaller defenders.

But when the chips and down and the game is on the line, you would bet on Wood to score the winning goal before Vlahović, at least based on the evidence of the last three years. Wood, however, can’t be expected to do it forever.

Eight years younger than Wood, if Vlahović can maintain his best levels for longer periods then he would surely be a worthy replacement in the long term, and perhaps far exceed what the perennially underappreciated Kiwi is capable of. The question is whether Nuno Espirito Santo believes that he can unlock the latent quality that we all saw at Fiorentina – because if he can’t, then Vlahović would likely frustrate Forest fan as often as he thrills them.