Nottingham Forest transfer news: Reds rival West Ham for 21-year-old striker

Nottingham Forest are now interested in the signing of PSG striker Hugo Ekitike. The Reds are set to do battle with a number of clubs including West Ham, Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus.

Forest are ramping up their search for a new striker, according to RMC Sport. Taiwo Awoniyi sat out of recent games against PSV and Rennes, with the likelihood of him being ready for the Premier League opener unlikely.

That leaves Forest in a bit of a quandary. The Reds will hope to land a new striker, with Sam Surridge now departed and Emmanuel Dennis not currently training with the senior squad.

Ekitike only actually signed a permanent transfer with PSG this summer. Last season he was technically on loan at the club, although an obligation to buy for £30 million was agreed.

His first season at PSG wasn’t too bad. He started 14 games for the French champions, scoring four goals and registering four assists for the club.

Forest target Ekitike is only 21 and he looks set for a bright future. Oscar Garcia used to manage the striker at Reims and he called him ‘special’ prior to him joining PSG.

It was with Remis that he started to catch the eye. Despite his tender years, he bagged 11 goals from 28 appearances in one of the lesser sides in Ligue 1.

A number of clubs were keen to sign him but it was PSG who won the race. At the time, it was claimed that Newcastle were one of the clubs to be very interested.

Forest want Ekitike and PSG could let him leave

It seems quite conclusive that the player will be allowed to leave this summer. Now, with Forest in the mix to sign Ekitike, it will be interesting to see if a deal can be struck.

Ekitike is an interesting striker for Forest to consider. He typically plays in the role of a target man and during the early stages of his career, he was capped by the France under-20 outfit.

Forest need another striker. Awoniyi doesn’t look like being fit for the start of the season and the Reds are desperately short in attack right now.

Rumour rating: 8/10 – A deal for Ekitike does make quite a bit of sense for Forest – if the price is right!

PSG won’t be easy to negotiate with and they only parted with a huge sum of money for him 12 months ago.

Still, if Forest could strike a deal with the Ekitike ahead of the other clubs interested, the 21-year-old could prove to be a bit of a coup for the Reds.