Rating every player Nottingham Forest signed for 2025/26 season - including 3/10 flops and £10m genius bargain
Nottingham Forest spent around £200m on new signings for the 2025/26 season
Even by Nottingham Forest’s standards, the 2025/26 campaign has been, to put it mildly, utterly bonkers. The Tricky Trees spent big money over the summer and managed to cling on to talisman Morgan Gibbs-White, but proceeded to then sack three managers within a matter of months, with Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglu and Sean Dyche all getting the chop.
On the pitch, things have been just as wild, with Forest flirting with the Premier League relegation zone for much of the campaign. New boss Vitor Pereira has steadied the ship, however, and while the East Midlands club bombed out of both domestic cups in the third round, they did manage a highly impressive Europa League run, making it to the semi-finals.
With nothing to play for bar pride on the final day of the season, and with a number of players likely to be taking it a little easy with the World Cup just around the corner, Forest will already be starting to think of next season and the squad changes they’ll need to make for an improved campaign in 2026/27.
In the meantime, we’ve rated every signing the club made over the last two transfer windows, and rated their debut campaigns at the City Ground:
Rating every player Nottingham Forest signed this season - Jesus to Savona
Igor Jesus: £10m from Botafogo - 8/10. What a start to the transfer window this was for Forest. Signing directly from the Brazilian top tier is always a gamble, but it’s paid off big time with Jesus, who’s racked up a healthy 16 goals and five assists in all competitions. A real bargain signing, he’s also done a stellar job filling in for the injured Chris Wood.
Jair Cunha: £10m from Botafogo - 6/10. Like Cunha, he joined from Botafogo for an eight-figure fee. The defender has been used sparingly throughout the season, with Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo very much the favoured centre-back pairing. He showed his quality in a fine 1-0 Europa League win over Porto earlier this season.
Dan Ndoye: £35m from Bologna - 5/10. Given the whopping fee dished out, Forest fans can’t be blamed for feeling a little underwhelmed by the Switzerland international’s first season at the City Ground.
The versatile winger has largely been used in Europe, having to settle for fleeting appearances in the Premier League. His end product has been severely lacking at times, and is in danger of falling into ‘expensive flop’ territory. He did score a lovely goal on debut, mind.
Angus Gunn: free transfer from Norwich City - 5/10. In a World Cup year, you really have to question the Scotland international’s decision to join as a backup ‘keeper. Like many Premier League clubs, Forest opted to bring in a homegrown backup stopper to meet the competition’s quota. He’s played a grand total of 45 minutes of football for Forest this season, coming on as a substitute at half-time against Crystal Palace, replacing the injured Matz Sels.
Omari Hutchinson: £38m from Ipswich Town - 6/10. Like Ndoye, Hutchinson had the pressure of a heavy price tag sitting on his shoulders from the start. He’s had some fine moments, including his solitary goal against Man City back December, and shone in the first-leg Europa League semi-final win over Aston Villa. Overall, however, his attacking output hasn’t been enough to justify the record fee paid.
James McAtee: £30m from Man City - 5/10. Hutchinson’s England U21 international teammate arrived on the same day for a similarly hefty transfer fee. He’s found it difficult to budge Gibbs-White from his starting spot in the Premier League, but gave a decent account of himself in the Europa League. He’ll be looking to push his case for more minutes in 2026/27 with a strong pre-season.
Arnaud Kalimuendo: £26m from Rennes - 3/10. When your new striker has to be loaned out in the next available transfer window, it usually means things haven’t exactly gone to plan. The France U23 international was unable to prove himself as a viable option to lead the line for Forest, but did at least score a couple of Europa League goals before being shipped out to Eintracht Frankfurt. He’s having a lovely time of it there, by all accounts, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him leave permanently this summer.
Nicolo Savona: £11m from Juventus - 6/10. A nice bit of business, this was. The towering full-back, while not a regular starter, looked every bit a Premier League quality player when given the opportunity to impress. In particular, he excelled in games against Liverpool, Man United and Wrexham. Unfortunately, a serious knee injury in January scuppered an otherwise promising season.
Rating every player Nottingham Forest signed this season -Victor to Lucca
John Victor: £7m from Botafogo - 4/10. Another day, another phone call to Botafogo to sign a new player. Bar a couple of solid performances against Sturm Graz and Tottenham, Victor had a season to forget - and one that was ended in a frustrating fashion by a serious knee injury suffered back in January during a dire showing against Aston Villa.
Dilane Bakwa: £30m from Strasbourg - 3/10. Eyebrows were raised when Forest signed their third right winger of the summer, for another sizeable fee. He’s endured a dismal first season at the City Ground, struggling for minutes and largely failing to impress when given a chance. Still, he did skin Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella to provide an assist in the 3-0 win at Stamford Bridge, which did give a glimpse of his potential, at least.
Stefan Ortega: £500k from Man City - 6/10. Signed in January to cover Victor’s injury, the experienced stopper has done a decent job filling in where required - especially in the Europa League, where he put in a couple of heroic displays against Porto and Aston Villa respectively.
Luca Netz: £1m from Borussia Monchengladbach - 6/10. Thanks to the German’s contract entering its last six months, Forest were able to grab themselves a fine deal. He came in for some much needed cover at left-back in the last window, and has looked a decent buy with some solid, if not spectacular, performances towards the end of this season. At £1m, you can’t complain.
Douglas Luiz: Loan from Juventus - 4/10. The Brazilian midfielder spent just half a season on loan with Forest, before heading back to his former club Aston Villa, also on a temporary deal. He never seemed at home in a Forest shirt, and looked a mile off the pace in the Premier League - a competition where he’d thrived in the past. Still, at least he wasn’t a costly permanent signing.
Oleksandr Zinchenko: Loan from Arsenal - 4/10. Another loan deal that just didn’t go to plan. The Ukraine star’s acquisition looked a fine bit of business initially, but he failed to adapt to Forest’s tactical set-up under any of the three managers he served under. After playing minimal minutes for the club, he ended his season-long deal and joined Ajax for the remainder of the campaign.
Lorenzo Lucca: Loan from Napoli - 3/10. He scored on debut against Leeds United, and that’s as good as it’s got for him. He’s not been able to force his way into the side, appearing unable to adapt to the rigours of Premier League football. An ankle injury certainly hasn’t helped matters, but his loan signing has to go down as a poor, misguided bit of business from Forest.