Nottingham Forest made a mistake when completing their transfer business in the summer by not strengthening the spine of the team with a "trustworthy core".
That's the view of former Manchester City and Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne, who is not convinced they have brought in the leaders needed to compete in the Premier League. Forest spent around £145 million in the transfer market, bringing in 23 new players.
The ex-Republic of Ireland international says that the Reds were right to bring in so many new faces given the number of exits at the end of last season. But he does not feel that some of their marquee signings, such as Jesse Lingard and Morgan Gibbs-White, bring enough consistency or leadership qualities around which to build a winning side.
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"They needed to sign players, because they had so many loan players last season and players out of contract. I think they shocked themselves getting into the Premier League. They've arrived and needed to get a lot of signings in," Dunne told Premier Sports.
"What I think they have not done right is, they've got loads of players but they've not got a core to their team. You still look at them and go, well, who are you building that team around? If it's Jesse Lingard, he's not a lead player. He's a supporting act who can go with some great players. Forest are just trying to find the core of their side at the moment.
"You look at the spine of the team and you want people who you can throw your hat on and know he's going to be an eight out of ten every week. Then you put the likes of Lingard, Morgan Gibbs-White and Brennan Johnson around them. They're good players but not leaders. You need someone that's going to drag you out from the position they're in.
Dunne thinks that the club will have to go back into the transfer market in January in order to fix the problem. "They've spent £150 million and sacked the two guys that spent it and they're going to have to go again in January," he added.
"You need that trustworthy core, which I'm not sure they've got."
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