Head coach Steve Cooper would not be drawn on suggestions Nottingham Forest are making a push to sign Jesse Lingard.
The Reds are reportedly in pole position for the former Manchester United man’s signature, amid competition from West Ham United. Should a deal for the free agent get over the line, it would be a high-profile addition to Cooper’s squad ahead of their Premier League return.
Ten new players have already come through the door so far - albeit Brandon Aguilera has immediately headed out on loan. But the Forest boss still wants more, with the top end of the pitch in particular need of strengthening.
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Asked about the links to Lingard, he said when speaking to the BBC after his team’s 3-1 friendly win over Hertha Berlin: "By all accounts, we are linked with a load of players. Some of it may be true, some of it may be not.
"My job is just to give you more detailed information on the guys who have come through the door, and the next one who comes through the door. Anything before that is not true, because until you sign and register a player, they can belong to someone else. That's where we're at.
"I want to be very clear that we've had no alternative than to bring in players, because we had loan players and some players have left for different reasons. We've had no alternative but to change things around a little bit.
"But at the same time, we've still got a lot of our core from last season. One of my focuses is to really make sure we recreate the spirit of last season - I think that's very important.
"A lot of those boys and staff are still here, so the players who are coming in are joining that. We had no alternative but to bring players in, and we're still going through that process. But you'll still see a lot of similarities in personnel who did so well last year, and that's important to me.
"Some teams get promoted, do really well and just add three or four. If we had a team of permanent players last year, then we probably would have done the same. But we've had no alternative, because of the players we've lost.
"We embrace the challenge. We're excited about it.”
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