Whatever happens in the final few weeks of this season, it will be a big summer transfer window ahead for Nottingham Forest.
Head coach Steve Cooper has previously spoken about wanting “to build a team of permanent players who help you grow” as he looks to put his stamp on the squad. Whether or not the Reds manage to achieve promotion this year, the Welshman is keen to have a longer-term plan in place. He has said: “You want to try to build a consistency and a togetherness within the group. To do that, you need a group of players to be together over a length of time.”
Forest do have a number of players on the books who still have plenty of time to run on their contracts. For others, decisions will soon need to be made on their futures as the summer approaches.
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Midfielder Ryan Yates and goalkeeper Jordan Smith recently put pen to paper on fresh terms. And Cooper pointed to the former as an example of how the club is looking towards the future.
“There are other boys on longer-term contracts as well, who are not up for discussion at the moment because they are only a year or so into them - Joe Worrall and Scott McKenna etc,” he said. “But Yatesy is just a good example of good commitment from the club, thinking both short and long-term.
“Short-term, okay, we want to be as competitive as we can and win as many games as possible. But longer-term, we’ve got to think about succession planning and things like that. Yatesy and the other boys on longer-term contracts are going to be a part of that, which is good.”
Following the Yates and Smith extensions, here is a look at the contract status of every member of the Forest first-team squad. Not all had the length of their deals confirmed when they signed.
Summer 2022: Tobias Figueiredo, Gaetan Bong, Carl Jenkinson, Lewis Grabban, Max Lowe (on loan from Sheffield United), Djed Spence (on loan from Middlesbrough), Philip Zinckernagel (on loan from Watford), James Garner (on loan from Manchester United), Keinan Davis (on loan from Aston Villa).
Summer 2023: Brice Samba, Jordan Smith, Jack Colback, Cafu, Joe Lolley, Harry Arter, Brennan Johnson, Xande Silva, Lyle Taylor, Nuno Da Costa.
Summer 2024: Ethan Horvath, Joe Worrall, Loic Mbe Soh, Scott McKenna, Nicholas Ioannou, Steve Cook, Sam Surridge.
Summer 2025: Richie Laryea, Jonathan Panzo, Alex Mighten, Ryan Yates, Braian Ojeda.
Unconfirmed: Mohamed Drager.
