Cooper can land a dream Garner replacement in Forest bid for £50m "huge talent" - opinion

Nottingham Forest have already signed seven new players this summer and are showing no signs of slowing down in the transfer market, as Steve Cooper endeavours to build a squad fit to compete in the Premier League for the first time in 23 years.

The newly-promoted side have already lost a number of last season’s squad, with James Garner returning to Manchester United, Djed Spence completing a move to Tottenham Hotspur, Keinan Davis returning to Aston Villa and Brice Samba making a permanent move to Lens.

Nevertheless, Forest are wasting no time in their pursuit to maintain their Premier League status next season and are filling key positions comfortably despite deadline day being still over six weeks away.

After signing Dean Henderson on loan from Man United, despite reports linking Garner with a return to The City Ground, it would be impossible to complete a straightforward loan deal as Premier League clubs are not allowed to loan two players from the same club at the same time.

As a result, Cooper could land his dream replacement for the young Red Devils midfielder by plotting a move for a player who has already been linked with a move to Forest this summer, Amadou Onana.

The £50m midfielder – who was hailed a “huge talent” by Jacek Kulig – has put in some impressive performances and been a consistent force in Ligue One over last season.

Over 32 league appearances last season, Onana scored one goal and created three big chances, as well as made an average of 1.5 tackles and won 3.4 duels per game, in addition to completing the majority of his dribbles.

Tackling, ground duels and ball control are strengths noted by SofaScore, proving that he is a six-foot-five powerhouse with bags of potential to develop into a great