When Nottingham Forest spent £150m in one transfer window in the summer of 2022, it was supposed to be a sign of ambition. It is not cheap being a Premier League club, and building a squad capable of staying up – never mind challenging for trophies – is an expensive business. But it also takes careful planning to assemble an elite team and when Forest ripped up that blueprint they accelerated the process that has led to a charge of breaching profit and sustainability rules.
The Premier League charge, which could lead to a points deduction, relates to a three-year period that includes Forest signing 31 players in the season after promotion. Strange as it may seem now, everything had started calmly in June 2022 when the club broke their transfer record to buy Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin for about £17.5m. The striker was a marquee signing who went on to score the goals that, arguably, kept Forest up and, by Premier League standards, the cost was low for a capable No 9. Undoubtedly his price tag has risen since.
