Nottingham Forest look set to succeed where West Ham failed by beating them to a powerhouse for a third of the price. West Ham and Nottingham Forest have already collided several times in this summer transfer window.
The Hammers and Nottingham Forest are both currently very active in the market looking for signings. West Ham have brought in three new signings in the shape of Luis Guilherme, Wes Foderingham and Max Kilman.
Forest have also been busy, signing Elliot Anderson, Marko Stamenic, Eric da Silva Moreira and Carlos Miguel.
The latter Miguel is a 6ft 8in Brazilian goalkeeper and West Ham fans may recognise the name because he was being linked with the Hammers until Nottingham Forest swooped to seal a deal with Corinthians.
The Tricky Trees have also been linked with top Hammers target Wesley Gassova at the same Brazilian club.
Hammers and Forest lock horns in transfer market
With both West Ham and Forest shopping in the same market, they were bound to find themselves battling for players.
Indeed it emerged last month that the City Ground side had hijacked West Ham’s move for Internacional defender Vitao.
Nottingham Forest caused West Ham’s move to collapse by offering more money for Vitao and agreeing to pay him a lot more than the Hammers too. Since then, Forest’s own bid has hit the buffers.
As a result both Julen Lopetegui and Nuno Espirito Santo are still looking for another centre-back. That, it seems, has put the Premier League rivals on a collision course once again.
But Nottingham Forest look set to to succeed where West Ham failed by beating them to a powerhouse. And at a third of the price no less.
Forest to succeed where West Ham failed for powerhouse
Overnight it was reported that West Ham have reignited interest in signing longstanding centre-back target Nikola Milenkovic.
The Hammers have twice come close to agreeing a deal with Fiorentina for the big Serbian defender in the past.
But the demands of agents involved scuppered a move, which was touted to be worth around £35m at the time.
TuttoMercatoWeb claimed overnight that West Ham remain interested in the Euro 2024 star with La Viola keen to sell.
In fact there was real encouragement for the Hammers as the report claimed Fiorentina already had Toulouse’s Logan Costa lined up as a replacement. There has been a major development, though.
And it seems Nottingham Forest have once again hijacked a Hammers target. Forest signing Milenkovic for a third of the price
Not only that, though, Forest look set to sign Milenkovic for just £13m – nearly a third of the price the Hammers were willing to pay a couple of seasons ago. That’s according to reliable Telegraph journalist John Percy.
The reporter reckons Forest have moved so fast they are confident of signing Milenkovic – who used to be dubbed the ‘new Nemanja Vidic’ – as soon as next week.
“Nottingham Forest have put in a £13 million bid for Fiorentina centre-back Nikola Milenkovic and are confident of getting a deal done,” Percy reports.
“Forest have made an offer for the Serbian international and are hoping to complete the signing later next week.”
This will be a blow to West Ham given the reasonable fee involved.
West Ham told Hammers News last week that the current focus is on signing a striker.
And it seems that may have opened the door for Forest to beat the Hammers to a player who has been on their radar for the last two years.
