Steve Cooper plotting Forest bid for "the best summer signing", imagine him & Lingard - opinion

Nottingham Forest are interested in a deal to bring Maxwel Cornet to The City Ground this summer.

That’s according to a recent report by The Times, who claim that Forest have now joined the race for the Burnley forward in the summer transfer window, with Everton and Fulham also believed to be keen on a move for the 25-year-old winger.

The report goes on to state that, despite having only joined the Clarets in a €15m (£12.9m) deal 12 months ago, the Ivory Coast international will be available for a figure of just £17.75m in the current market due to a release clause written into his contract at Turf Moor.

With Nottingham Forest also being linked with a surprise move for Jesse Lingard this summer, the prospect of the Garibaldi landing both the former England international and Cornet ahead of the 2022/23 campaign is sure to be an incredibly tantalising one for both supporters and Steve Cooper alike.

Indeed, despite Burnley’s struggles in the league last season, the £13.5m-rated forward nevertheless managed to impress over his 26 Premier League appearances, scoring nine goals, providing one assist and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 1.8 shots, making 0.6 key passes and completing 0.5 dribbles per game.

These metrics saw the £44k-per-week talent who Alex James dubbed “the best summer signing” average an eye-catching SofaScore match rating of 6.84 – an extremely impressive feat while playing for a team who scored just 33 goals all season.

As such, the prospect of Cornet and Lingard – who also returned a quite remarkable nine goals and five assists during his last extended run of games in the Premier League during a loan spell at West Ham United back in 2021 – lining up on either