Nottingham Forest have now received a response to their inquiry to sign the “exciting” Chelsea player.
Mori steps up to become an “exciting” player
The caliber of players Forest can sign this summer will, of course, be heavily influenced by whether they remain in the Premier League. Vitor Pereira’s side currently sit outside the bottom three on goal difference alone.
Tricky Trees are above the relegation zone thanks to Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City and Pereira was pleased with his team’s performance, saying: “It was especially important to come here and prove that we can get points anywhere. It’s not about City or any other club, it’s about us.”
“It’s important to show how we deal with the opposition, to believe in ourselves, to play good football and get points. It was a tough game, but we showed a lot of character. We have quality, organization and with one less day to recover, it’s not easy. There are five games in 15 days and there’s travel, so it’s not easy to perform at this level.”
However, the City Ground side have struggled all season, with the common denominator being that the players have been through four different managers, suggesting the squad needs to improve in the summer.
TEAMtalk reports that Nottingham Forest signed Stefan Ortega in the January transfer window but are now in the race for another goalkeeper, having submitted an inquiry into the signing of Chelsea’s Mike Penders.
Penders is currently on loan at Strasbourg and played under Rosenior at the start of the season, with the Chelsea manager saying he was “very” impressed with his performances.
As such, the Blues have rejected Tricky Trees’ inquiries and notified him that he is off the market, so unless they soften their stance between now and the summer, a deal will be impossible.
‘Exciting’ Pender impressing in Belgium and France
The Belgian shot-stopper enjoyed a successful loan spell at Genk last season and was highly praised by scout Jacek Kulig, who described him as one of the most “exciting” young goalkeepers in Europe.
Since then, the 20-year-old has established himself as Strasbourg’s first-choice goalkeeper, posting a save rate of 68% in Ligue 1, just ahead of Mats Sells’ save rate of 67% in the Premier League.
So while it’s disappointing that Penders doesn’t appear to be for sale, Ortega had a promising start to life at Forest before his injury, keeping a clean sheet in the 3-0 win over Fenerbahce and making three saves from inside the box in the 1-0 defeat to Liverpool.
