- Forest will discover whether they will be charged for FFP breaches this month
- The east Midlands club have signed 43 players in the last three transfer windows
- IAN LADYMAN: Premier League clubs are so wrapped up in their own self-interest. They want what suits them and that’s not FA Cup replays – It’s All Kicking Off
Nottingham Forest are set to limit their big-spending ways during this transfer window as they wait to learn whether they will be charged with breaking spending rules.
Forest will know later in January if they are to become the third top-flight club charged with not complying with Financial Fair Play rules, following Everton’s 10-point deduction last year and Manchester City’s alleged breach.
Yet Forest have signed 43 players during the last three transfer windows and are likely to adopt a calmer strategy this time, not least as new boss Nuno Espirito Santo prefers a smaller squad and that means the playing group is likely to be trimmed.
Andrey Santos has had his loan from Chelsea cut short and two of their summer deadline day signings, Andrew Omobamidele and Nuno Tavares, may also leave, while centre-backs Joe Worrall and Scott McKenna might also be moved on.
Should they be punished, Forest would risk a points penalty. Mail Sport understands that if they are ruled to have transgressed, part of their defence is likely to involve the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham for £47.5million in August.
Nottingham Forest have signed 43 players during the last three transfer windows but are likely to adopt a calmer approach
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side will find out later in January if they will be the third top-flight club to be charged for not complying with FFP
As FFP calculations are made over a three-year period ending on June 30, the Johnson deal will count towards the reckoning for 2021-2024, rather than 2020-23. Clubs are permitted to make financial losses of £105 million over a three-year period, with Forest reporting an annual loss of £45.6 million in their last accounts.
Forest say they could have sold Johnson to Brentford in June for about £30million, which would have put them in a healthier financial state for the 2020-23 accounting period, but nearly £20m out of pocket overall. For the club’s sustainability, they argue that accepting £50m for Johnson in August was better than accepting £30m earlier in the summer.
Forest have spent nearly £300m on transfers since they were promoted from the Championship in May 2022 and also have a hefty wage bill.
A spokesman said: ‘The club has fully complied with its reporting obligations in respect of the Premier League’s revised profit and sustainability rules. Promotion to the Premier League will always create challenges. The club approaches all such challenges with its long-term financial sustainability firmly in mind, as the Premier League rules intended.’
Meanwhile, Forest believe they will face no action for their management of the deal that took midfielder Jonjo Shelvey to Turkish club Caykur Rizespor on September 14.
Shelvey’s move was initially registered as a loan deal, only for Forest to realise they had exceeded their quota of seven loans for senior players, due to confusion over the status of young forward Alex Mighten.
Forest believed Mighten was under 21 when he joined Belgian club KV Kortrijk on September 7, and that he would not count towards their senior loan quota as a result. Yet because he turned 21 on April 11, he did.
Tottenham completed the signing of Brennan Johnson from Forest on transfer Deadline Day
Once Forest were informed via FIFA’s transfer system that they were not permitted to loan Shelvey, they agreed to tear up the midfielder’s contract and he signed a one-year deal in Turkey as a free agent.
Even if this is nothing more than an administrative error, it is an embarrassing one. Shelvey had been signed in January 2023 on a two-and-a-half-year deal worth about £70,000 per week, and to cut ties with him only seven-and-a-half months later says little for Forest’s transfer strategy.
