Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka has denied reports that he has made a bid for Middlesbrough’s Adam Clayton.
Following his appointment as manager, a number of outlets have linked Forest with a return to the Riverside for a number of his former players, and Adam Clayton was certainly one of those players referenced.
The 29 year old did sign a new contract extension at the club back in March keeping him with them until 2021.
With speculation continuing about Clayton in particular, as Karanka met with the media to preview the Wolverhampton Wanderers match, he flatly rebuffed talk of a firm offer going in for the player.
Speaking to the BBC he explained simply that the reports of a bid were ‘not true’.
‘I have known him for a few years. I know how good a player he is, but now my priority is to think about my players.’
Whether that changes or not over the coming week and a bit remains to be seen as Karanka will certainly want to add his stamp to the side for the second half of the year.
The Nottingham Post also have him talking about the January transfer window and in particular, whether or not he’d work with a director of football.
At Middlesbrough he didn’t, but Karanka says he’s open to that kind of relationship but he’s still settling in at the club so issues like that can wait as he focuses in on coming games.
‘I need to settle in first, because this has been our first week here working with the players on the pitch. We have a lot of time in front of us and, for sure, the steps that the club need to take, we will take. Because the owners, the chairman and the people here, who I have met at the club – all of them want to progress. The best decision for the club is the one we will take.’
Talking transfers in general he explained.
‘Again it is too soon for me to talk about all the names we are being linked with, as it would take me two hours. We are working as a group together and the players who will come, will be the best players for Forest. Always, they will be players who want to join Forest. I do not want players who are coming here because they want to earn more money. The players who come here will come here because they want to join us and be part of our project. I do not want to sign players because they are a big name or just because they are here for the money. No. The players we will bring here, they will be players who really want to be here and really want to be part of things at Forest.’
Adding.
‘We have not decided on exactly how many, but we know the big picture. Again, in football, sometimes you think that you need three players and, in the end, six players come in. Other times you might think that you need six and you sign only three. The main thing is that, at the end of the transfer window, the squad is better than it was before the window opened. We are active, we know that we need to bring players in and to move players out. We need better players and a better squad that we had at the start of the window.’
He also confirmed he was looking to add one more member of staff to his backroom group with Juan Jose Vila having arrived as head of first team analysis and assistant coach, Carlos Cachada appointed as fitness coach and Jose Miguel Marcos Costoso coming in as first team analyst.
‘We are working to add one more member of staff. I need people to work on the pitch. But it is the same as the players. The people who will come are going to be people who want to be part of this project, who want to build something with us here.’
