Nottingham Forest could be handed a bit of a stumbling block in their attempts to sign Hull City winger Kamil Grosicki.
The Hull Daily Mail are reporting that the Tigers have set an asking price of £4m for the 31-year-old.
My Vital Forest colleague Crippy Cooke previously said that Grosicki was a man that Forest should be desperate to try and sign but at the kind of price that Hull City are asking, I don’t think you can justify paying that much. Both the transfer fee and the wages (which are at the moment rumoured to be roughly £25k a week) for someone that old should raise huge red flags.
He’s at the age where clubs typically start demanding one-year contracts from their players because they know their value is going to go down and down, so why Forest would be willing to fork out that much for someone that old just doesn’t make sense. That’s why it was smart business getting Albert Adomah at the price and at the time that they did, he has a fantastic goal return at this level, but you were able to get him for free, so the risk of buying his decreased significantly.
The only way I can see this being a good deal is if Grosicki is somehow a replacement for Joe Lolley if he eventually makes the move to Aston Villa, rumours of which have been getting quieter and quieter as the weeks have gone by. That way you have a somewhat adequate replacement for all the goals that Lolley scored last year, but he should not be someone who can command a first team spot.
I’m not doubting that Grosicki is a good player, his return for Hull City last year – nine goals and twelve assists – was very impressive, however, I just feel there’s a lot about this deal that should put Forest off perusing the matter any further.
We know how much damage trying to reach the Premier League can do for clubs, so Forest need to be careful with their finances, and spending this much on a player who is the wrong side of 30 should only be done as a last resort. There’s still just over three weeks to go in the transfer window, which is plenty of time for you to catch your breath and try and look elsewhere before panicking and going to Hull.
