Steve Cooper has vowed to add to Nottingham Forest’s 12 new signings during this transfer window as they prepare for their first top-flight fixture this century.
Forest will arrive at Newcastle on Saturday with a new-look team after spending about £85million since promotion, with former Manchester United attacker Jesse Lingard the most eye-catching of their new players.
But Cooper insists Forest are not done yet as they continue to pursue Morgan Gibbs-White, with Wolves looking for about £30million for their playmaker, who was part of the England Under-17 squad who won the World Cup with Cooper at the helm.
‘I think there will be more ins and outs,’ said Cooper. ‘We had no alternative other than to make the amount of changes we have made and are continuing to make.
‘In an ideal world we would have liked to carry on with a large part of the team from last season and added in the areas we thought we needed.
‘We had five players on loan last season and players out of contract this summer. Even if we were still in the Championship we would have made the same number of changes.’
Any club who spend heavily after promotion risk being compared to Fulham, who committed £105 on 10 players in the summer of 2018 and were promptly relegated.
Cooper was careful to avoid such comparisons though he knows the answers will only come when the action begins. Forest need players like Lingard to shine from the off.
Cooper added: ‘Of course we wanted him to come but it was important he showed he wanted to come, which he did. I have to accept dealing with big characters and bigger names at this level and Jesse is a good example. As well as other factors, you have to make decisions on signing players on their reaction and your gut feeling.’