Nottingham Forest have a long few months ahead of them in the Premier League if they are to avoid the imminent threat of relegation to the Championship.
Vitor Pereira has been confirmed as the Reds’ new manager following Sean Dyche’s sacking last week, with bosses hoping the Portuguese can emulate his success with Wolves last term.
The 57-year-old is contracted until the end of the 2026/27 season, but his priority will undoubtedly be maintaining his place in the club’s top tier over the next 12 games.
Perhaps the new manager will introduce a back three system at the City Ground, as he did at Molineux, to get the most out of the current squad.
But if he wants to keep the Reds in the division, he’ll need to make sure one player who hasn’t produced under a number of different managers doesn’t become a regular starter.
The statistics behind Dan Ndoye’s struggles at Forest in 2025/26
After scoring his debut goal for Forest against Brentford on the opening day, many expected Dan Ndoye to be the perfect replacement for the departing Anthony Elanga.
The Swiss international’s transfer fee is reported to be £34 million, including the transfer from Italian side Bologna, but no such move has been made in recent months.
He has scored just one goal since his league debut for the Reds, before scoring in an embarrassing 3-2 defeat to FC Midtjylland in the Europa League.
The 25-year-old has since been restricted to just 14 league starts this season, and his basic statistics show why he has had to come off the substitute bench for minutes.
Ndoye has only completed 38% of his attempted dribbles so far and created just 0.8 chances per 90, which shows his struggles within the final third.
He also recorded just four shots on target in 19 games, further evidence of his inability to find the back of the net after his big-money move.
Forest players with worse contracts than Ndoye
After securing European football last season, Forest’s organization spent heavily to ensure they were a consistent top-six challenger, as evidenced by their £200m outlay.
Ndoye is just one of the players added during such a period, but he is not the only one who has not been successful, as is Arnaud Karimend, who is already on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Nottingham Forest’s biggest ever contract
Evangelos Marinakis has been spending big in recent years.
However, some of their previous reinforcements have struggled to meet the demands of the Premier League, resulting in huge sums of money being wasted in the process.
Morato was just one of a number of players who previously moved to the City Ground, before joining from Benfica in the summer of 2024 for an estimated £15 million.
The Brazilian was considered suitable as a backup to the likes of Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic, but there is no denying that the centre-back fell short of the expectations of many in the East Midlands.
The 24-year-old has appeared in 14 league games this season, but has failed to produce in many games, leaving fans in doubt about his inclusion in the squad.
Described as a “disgrace” by Callum Castel, Morato produced arguably his worst performance of the season against Leeds United a few weeks ago, costing the Reds with a mistake at Elland Road.
His lack of defensive awareness and sense of urgency cost him when Noah Okafor ghosted home an unmarked 18-yard box, and he was certainly responsible for the home side’s second goal.
Even in his performance for Yorkshire that day, his poor quality in the air and on the ground was evident throughout, winning only 25% of the aerial duels he took part in.
The defender’s overall stats this season haven’t been great either, with just 1.5 aerial wins per 90 since then, ranking him in the bottom 15% of all defenders in the league.
Morato – PL statistics (2025/26) | |
|---|---|
Statistics (every 90) | tally |
games played | 14 |
Play time (minutes) | 939 |
Pass accuracy | 86% |
aerial won | 1.5 |
aerial won | 49% |
Number of intercepts | 0.7 |
dribbled past | 0.6 |
Number of fouls committed | 1.2 |
He also dribbled past the team’s other centre-backs, subsequently highlighting the lack of quality when opponents have possession in the final third.
There’s little denying that the Reds look like a weaker side with the Brazilian in the starting eleven, and players like Murillo and Milenkovic certainly have much higher quality options.
Pereira will certainly have the opportunity to analyze his new team in the coming days, but he will need to choose a squad strong enough to deal with the possibility of relegation.
Ndoye and Morato are simply not at the level needed to succeed in the Premier League, and their inclusion in the starting eleven will no doubt make the task of ensuring their survival even more difficult.
No Aina or Morato, £30m star starts: Pereira’s dream Nottingham Forest XI
Nottingham Forest have brought in their fourth manager this season, with Vitor Pereira set to take over as manager.
