Nottingham Forest’s success story last season in the Premier League was heavily dependent on the goalscoring heroics of Chris Wood.
The Tricky Trees will be competing in the Europa League thanks to their lethal New Zealander, who would finish the campaign with a blistering 20 league strikes next to his name as Nuno Espirito Santo’s men soared to seventh position.
It will be up to Wood to keep up these explosive levels heading into next campaign, with some help potentially coming his way in the centre-forward department if Forest can strike up a deal for this lethal striker to join.
Forest in race to sign goalscoring veteran
Away from adding in more strikers, the experienced 33-year-old will, for sure, be joined by an exciting new winger supplying him with chances in the form of Dan Ndoye.
It has now been confirmed that Ndoye will don Forest red ahead of the 24/25 season, having finally agreed a deal to move from Bologna to the City Ground for a bumper £35m.
He could soon be followed through the door by another statement addition in the form of Chelsea outcast Christopher Nkunku, alongside another deal potentially getting off the ground for this goalscoring veteran to join Nuno’s expanding ranks.
A move for Mehdi Taremi does appear to have more legs at this point than the Frenchman boldly switching Stamford Bridge for the Midlands, with a report by the Tasnim News Agency stating that the Iranian marksman is tempted by the prospect of a Premier League move, away from current employers Inter Milan.
Inter are also noted as being keen to offload the 33-year-old, amid interest growing in his services from Fulham, Leeds United, and West Ham United, on top of Forest throwing their hat into the ring.
Forest will hope they can strike gold with another seasoned striker joining the ranks, with Taremi possessing the same goalscoring prowess that Wood has showcased at the City Ground all across his nomadic career to date.
Why Taremi can become Forest's next Wood
On the books of Porto, before embarking on a big move to Italy, Taremi had managed to reach the same heroic status that Wood has now achieved at the City Ground.
In total, the seasoned 33-year-old would fire home a prolific 91 strikes for his Portuguese employers from 182 outings, with his overall career tally standing at a devastating 202 goals from 445 clashes subsequently.
Games played
445
531
Clubs played at
7
15
Goals scored
202
182
Assists
101
43
He hasn’t had it all his own way, however, with his current spell in Serie A only seeing him score a meagre three times from 43 clashes. Yet, he will back himself to bounce back and get back to his best if Forest comes calling, with Wood also displaying that same level of resilience across his lengthy playing days to date.
Indeed, the towering 6-foot-3 striker has experienced plenty of ups and downs himself when lining up for a mammoth 15 different teams, with an equally barren spell coming his way at Newcastle United, just before the Tricky Trees became his next home.
Only five goals would be handed to him from 39 appearances on Tyneside, yet Forest’s gamble in acquiring Wood has more than paid off, with their “outstanding” striker – which he was labelled by Match of the Day 2 pundit Stephen Warnock – now 36 strikes down and counting for Nuno’s high-flyers.
With Taremi coming in at the same age as Wood, alongside also boasting a similarly lofty 6-foot-2 frame, this might well go down as another shrewd catch if a move accelerates into motion, with the in-demand Iranian also receiving glowing praise for being “ridiculous” in front of goal by Rio Ferdinand.
With Igor Jesus also in through the door this summer, Nuno’s centre-forward options could soon be brimming with even more quality if the Inter number 99 makes his Premier League dreams a reality.
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