“Hardly a like-for-like replacement for Djed Spence” – Nottingham Forest place 29-year-old on transfer shortlist: The verdict

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Nottingham Forest have entered the race to recruit Fulham full-back and former loanee Cyrus Christie, according to the Sky Sports Transfer Centre (14/5; 12:30pm).

Despite not knowing which division they will be in next season yet with the Reds set to take on Sheffield United in the second leg of the play-off semi-final tomorrow evening, it seems as though their recruitment team are already getting to work in the summer.

And with Djed Spence not guaranteed to return to the City Ground, the East Midlands outfit are planning ahead and have reportedly been tracking 29-year-old Christie, who is pretty much certain to leave Craven Cottage on the expiration of his contract in less than two months.

Spending the second half of the 2021/22 campaign at Swansea City though, he impressed under Russell Martin and registered three goals and five assists in 23 league appearances, so it’s no surprise that the Swans are also in the race for his signature along with Watford.

In terms of Forest though, would he be a good addition to their cause? And would he be an adequate replacement for the departing Spence?

We asked three of our writers at Football League World for their verdicts on these two key questions.

Billy Mulley

Unfortunately for Forest there are not many players, if any and within reason, who could fill the void that Djed Spence will leave if they are unable to strike a further agreement with the exciting wing-back.

His pace, dribbling ability and final third has seen him emerge as quite comfortably one of the best