Nottingham Forest were in the market to do plenty of business during the summer transfer window and the club were active when it came to incoming and outgoing deals.
Forest managed to add 11 players to the ranks, whilst over 20 were offloaded, with the club selling Moussa Niakhate, Orel Mangala, Joe Worrall and Odysseas Vlachodimos.
A number of others went out on loan, with Lewis O’Brien, Matt Turner, Omar Richards and Jonathan Panzo all heading out on temporary deals.
Late interest from Newcastle came for Anthony Elanga but Forest did manage to stand firm and keep the winger who was signed from Manchester United just last summer.
Anthony Elanga breaks silence amid Newcastle links
The 22-year-old is currently away on international duty with Alexander Isak who plays alongside Elanga for the Sweden national team.
Interest from Newcastle was clearly evident and now Elanga has broken his silence on the interest from the club who were in the Champions League last season.
Elanga was substituted at half-time as Sweden beat Azerbaijan last week and perhaps his confidence is struggling amid links with Newcastle.
He told Fotbollskanalen: “The environment in Nottingham is good. It is clear that you can see that Newcastle are interested, it means that I am playing good football when a big club shows interest.
“But Nottingham is also a big club, they have won two Champions Leagues, even though it was before I was born. But I’m happy in Nottingham and have a contract there.
“I’m focusing on Nottingham and hope to have a good season, then we’ll see what happens.
“Isak talked to me about it. But I said the same to him as I say to you. We have a good relationship and good chemistry when we play together. But I have a contract with Nottingham.”
Forest could soon have decision to make on Elanga
With five goals and nine assists last season, it’s clear that Elanga is a very important player – but there is a sense that he’s not indispensable.
Elanga has bags of potential at 22 but there are flaws within his game and that could give the club a decision to make if Newcastle return in January.
It’s positive that Elanga speaks positively about being under contract at Forest and that will help the Reds when it comes to negotiating.
If Forest can ask for a sizeable transfer sum and get a replacement lined up, it could prove a good piece of business to let Elanga leave when the transfer window reopens.
