Nottingham Forest’s summer shopping spree has been labelled “bonkers” by one Championship chief executive.
Immediately after their play-off victory, owner Evangelos Marinakis pledged to back boss Steve Cooper in the transfer market. And he has proved true to his word.
Free agent Serge Aurier became the club’s 22nd addition when he put pen to paper earlier this month - albeit three new arrivals headed straight out on loan. However, the Reds had little choice but to oversee a dressing room overhaul, following promotion to the Premier League.
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Forest needed to strengthen, to give themselves a chance of holding their own in the top-flight. And focusing on the influx of new faces fails to take into account the number of departures since the end of last term, with several key players having departed, including loanees Djed Spence, Philip Zinckernagel, James Garner, Keinan Davis and Max Lowe.
"I personally think that's absolutely bonkers," Swansea City chief executive Julian Winter told WalesOnline, when asked if they would follow a similar path to the Reds should they go up this year. "The transition from the Championship to the Premier League is not an easy one.
"A club like Forest, they did have a lot of loan players in, but ending up signing 22 players and spending around £140m, I'm genuinely astounded by it. It's a bit risk to take.
“In all of what we would do, we would obviously invest in the team, but the quantum isn't £150m, it really isn't. I think we are in reasonable shape.
“We can’t always point towards ownership all the time to solve every problem that we might perceive is around the corner. That’s down to us."
Forest brought in Taiwo Awoniyi, Dean Henderson, Giulian Biancone, Moussa Niakhate, Omar Richards, Neco Williams, Wayne Hennessey, Brandon Aguilera, Harry Toffolo, Lewis O'Brien, Jesse Lingard, Orel Mangala, Emmanuel Dennis, Cheikhou Kouyate, Remo Freuler, Morgan Gibbs-White, Hwang Ui-jo, Renan Lodi, Willy Boly, Josh Bowler, Loic Bade and Aurier this summer. Aguilera, Ui-jo and Bowler all went out on loan after signing. Heading in the opposite direction, as well as their five loanees, the Reds also lost the likes of Brice Samba, Lewis Grabban, Tobias Figueiredo and Joe Lolley.
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