Nottingham Forest are targeting Jamaal Lascelles for a return to the east Midlands club, it has been claimed.
Forest are set to embark on their first season in the Premier League for over 20 years after they beat Huddersfield Town in the Championship play-off final and will be looking to ensure they don’t go straight back down into England’s second tier.
One way they could potentially stop that from happening is by investing in the first-team squad – and that’s what they will seemingly do, as are reportedly targeting Premier League experience, with former player Lascelles being tipped with a return to the City Ground.
Noted insider ExWHUemployee has claimed on The Transfer Show that Forest are targeting Lascelles, claiming that the Reds are indeed interested in signing the Newcastle United captain.
“I think Jamaal Lascelles is an interesting one. Again, another player that West Ham have been linked with – his agent is Will Salthouse, so there’s no wonder – but his former club where he’s a folk hero, Nottingham Forest, look like they want to pair him up with Joe Worrall and have that centre-back partnership of two players that love Nottingham Forest.
Should Forest bring Lascelles back?
Yes!
No!
“I’ve heard that their manager, who I really admire, wants to create a sort of Brian Clough-esque Nottingham Forest team, and that was built around centre-back partnerships, midfield partnerships, striking partnerships of lads that got on, that loved the club, had the right personality, the right characteristics – and I think he has been identified by Nottingham Forest.”
TIF Thoughts on Lascelles’ potential return…
The defender came through the Forest academy and went on to rack up 65 appearances in the famous red shirt, but was plucked from their grasp by Newcastle in 2014, where he’s forged a solid career, being handed the armband by Rafael Benitez and lifting the Championship trophy throughout 214 appearances for the Magpies.
It appears that Lascelles doesn’t have a bright future on Tyneside following the arrival of Dan Burn in January and Fabian Schar recently penning a new contract, which saw him restricted to just five starts from February onwards. And with the Magpies interested in more defenders of Sven Botman’s calibre, Lascelles could well see an emotional return to Forest as the best scenario.