Forest linked with 3 Strikers
A quick look at Youssef En-Nesyri, Mehdi Taremi & Artem Dovbyk
Youssef En-Nesyri - 28 - Fenerbahçe
Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesryi perhaps surprisingly left Spain to join Fenerbahçe 18 months ago, following a great season where he scored 16 in a poorly-performing Seville side. He scored 20 (and assisted 4) in his debut season in Turkey, and has scored another 7 this season - with none of them from the penalty spot.
He’s scored at or above his expected numbers throughout his career - and this season he’s won just under half of his attacking aerial duels. His shot locations are closer to goal than Igor Jesus, who we know isn’t the ‘poacher’ that Forest (and many others) are missing. En-Nesyri profiles as a Target Man who can finish, but is unlikely to bring others into play.
To me En-Nesyri is a really interesting option, and one I’m surprised so many are quite hesitant about. He’s definitely not someone I can imagine setting the Premier League alight, but he’d certainly provide better depth than what Forest already have.
The only question for me is what kind of signing this would be, I’d be hesitant to spend a large chunk of money on him, and I’d imagine his wages are already quite high - if Forest can get this as a loan with an option to buy then it’s probably a good deal considering what Forest have in the squad at the moment.
Mehdi Taremi - 33 - Olympiacos
Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi is resurrecting his career in Greece after a bad season at Inter. Interestingly, despite being widely known as a striker he’s spent the majority of his time this season playing behind the striker, rather than being up front on his own.
His career path is really interesting, he didn’t make the move across to Europe until he was 25 when he joined Rio Ave - now of course part of the Marinakis Football Group. He scored 82 and assisted another 36 over 5 seasons in Portugal, with the last 4 coming with FC Porto.
He’s been great in duels this season, has scored 8 (including 1 against Real Madrid) and assisted another 2, and outside of that short spell with Inter Milan has a history of scoring a lot of goals at around or just above his expected amount - granted not at Premier League level though.
I find this option pretty unlikely - perhaps it's one Forest want to keep up their sleeve toward the end of the window, but I'm not sure how willing Marinakis will be to move a player who's having a really good impact in Greece.
Artem Dovybk - 28 - Roma
Ukrainian Dovybk - who stands just over 6ft, is another player who has shown really good goalscoring touch in the past. His issue this season though is a lack of game time due to fitness issues. He’s missed 7 games this season, and has just reinjured his hamstring and is expected to miss another 5 during the rest of this month.
Dovybk has scored 3 this season in less than 500 minutes, this following on from scoring 12 for Roma last season, and 24 for Girona the season before that. What’s probably really appealing to Dyche is that he wins a ridiculous percentage of his attacking aerial duels, over 80%!
This has helped him create chances for his side during his limited game time, as well as providing an aerial threat in the box. He’s had his game time split between playing as a loan striker, and in a front two.
To me Dovybk profiles as a bench option behind a fully fit Wood (which we don’t have) and Igor Jesus. The big worry here though is obviously his fitness. Like all of these links, I’d be very hesitant to be tied down long-term to any of them, and Dovbyk would be one that worries me the most. To be honest, I find it more likely that Forest would move for Taremi & perhaps Olympiacos would try to make a move for him, rather than him ending up in Nottingham.
Conclusions:
To me, all of these names seem like Forest are trying to put some pressure on Wolves, as it looks pretty clear that Strand Larsen is the club’s preferred target. I think fans are right to be a little disappointed with the calibre of player we’re talking about here, but looking further on than this season, these names probably tell a story.
Like many, I’ve had my disappointments with Forest’s recent playing style under Dyche - Forest seem very inconsistent, until more recently looking consistently poor. I’ve always been relatively confident that Forest would stay up, I still remain that way but Forest could definitely do with some reinforcements.
The fact that all of these names do seem like short-term options, points toward Forest aiming for a reset over the summer with a new man in the dugout. At the same time, they would all to varying degrees give Dyche some extra depth whilst Wood is out injured - nobody could argue that Forest aren’t trying to put Dyche in a position where he has the best chance of succeeding.
Out of these 3, I’d definitely lean toward En-Nesryi, especially if it’s a loan with an option to buy. He’s recently lost his international spot to Olympiacos forward Ayoub El-Kaabi, so he’d come here with a point to prove in a new league whilst trying to get back into Morocco’s side ahead of the World Cup.