The genius £13m defender transfer that could unlock Nottingham Forest's potent attacking potential

There was plenty of encouragement available to Nottingham Forest fans after their 1-1 draw with Bournemouth on Saturday. Their team played an even game against a very decent side and, perhaps more importantly for the long haul, the players that they were praying would still be at the City Ground come the start of the season were dressed in red and on the pitch. Morgan Gibbs-White, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Murillo… all still there, all potential building blocks for success over the course of the coming seasons.

But there are still some issues to be addressed, and the club’s distinctly scattergun spending policy hasn’t provided Nuno Espirito Santo with an entirely well-rounded squad with which to take on the Premier League – and one issue that needs to be dealt with sooner or later is the lack of balance at left-back.

Ola Aina, a naturally right-footed player, was once again the starter but while he’s a decent defender and capable of beating his man, he isn’t able to stretch play or create chances as the head coach likely wants – and because he’s a right-footed full-back playing behind a right-footed winger in the form of Hudson-Odoi, he doesn’t give the Forest attack a reliable outside option in attack.

Harry Toffolo, who came on for Aina in the second half, is left-footed and perfectly solid at the back but isn’t a naturally aggressive full-back who looks to get into dangerous areas and whip crosses in. Nor is he a capable dribbler who can take rival defenders on and beat them. He makes tackles but creates very little. Then there is Omar Richards, a forgotten man who still hasn’t played a game for Forest since he was signed for £8.5m two years ago. Who knows what he can or can’t do – even Santo probably doesn’t.

Happily, a change does seem to be on the cards, with The Athletic’s David Ornstein reporting that Forest are weighing up a loan move for Aston Villa’s £13m man Álex Moreno. The experienced Spaniard, who turned 31 over the summer, would not be a long-term solution, but ahead of season in which Forest are liable to among the candidates for relegation again a temporary fix would not be such a bad thing. The question is whether or not Moreno is the right man for the job.

Given his successful spell at Real Betis, Villa may have reasonably expected a little more from Moreno since he was signed and his form fell off significantly in the second half of last season, but he still has a lot of the qualities that Forest are missing in their current crop of full-backs and is readily available with Ian Maatsen and Lucas Digne ahead of him in the pecking order at Villa Park.

Moreno isn’t necessarily a great creative force (he’s never surpassed four assists in a single league season and generates shooting chances at a similar rate to Aina) but where he does shine is in his ability to stretch play and generate attacking momentum and space in the final third.

Genuinely quick and with impressive off-ball movement which allows him to get the ball in dangerous areas and pull defenders out of position at speed, some context for how much Moreno can offer an attack is offered by the number of “progressive passes” he gets on the end of. The statistic, which measures how often players get on the end of passes which either see them take possession in the box or at least 10 yards downfield, gives an indication of how good a player is at finding space in dangerous areas. Moreno receives 7.25 such passes every game, which is a healthy number indeed. Aina, by comparison, manages two.

That’s a slightly spreadsheet-heavy way of backing up the assertion that Moreno’s running and attacking style would give Nottingham Forest more space and more options going forward, especially on the counter-attack, and being left-footed means he can give the team the overlapping option in the final third that it simply doesn’t have right now.

Villa fans wearied by some of his performances last season would likely observe that his final ball can leave something to be desired, and certainly when he was off the boil he didn’t always make as much of his chances as he could have, but Forest’s attack is based heavily on the speed and dribbling skills of their supporting forwards and Moreno’s ability to draw defenders out of position and support fast, direct attacking moves would at least complement the playing style of Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga very neatly.

Nor is he a slouch on the defensive side of the ball. He’s solid in one-on-one situations, can keep up with the quicker wingers in the top flight and reads the game well, often getting back to cut out crosses at the back post. He racks up a decent number of clearances and interceptions, both good indications of a defender who gets into the right positions when the opposing side are coming forward.

Moreno isn’t such an exceptional player that he would elevate Forest, but tactically he would allow them to be far more balanced, unpredictable and threatening going forward, and a season-long loan deal means that if he does struggle to hit his best form again this season then they wouldn’t be lumbered with him for long.

This deal is far from done and there are plenty of other teams taking a look at Moreno, with former club Betis interested as well as a string of sides from Spain, France and Turkey. Forest will have to make a good pitch to get their man, but he could well offer them the chance to expand their play and raise the ceiling of what they can do with the ball – and if he doesn’t, then the cost is nice and low, which is helpful given their recent issues with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. This is the kind of transfer Forest should be looking for as the summer window winds down.