New Nottingham Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi looks set to make an instant impact.
Having got right into the thick of it by watching the team’s first pre-season game away at Alfreton Town on Saturday, the Frenchman is setting his sights on who his first signing in the transfer market is set to be.
Get French Football News are reporting that the newly appointed manager has held discussions with Senegalese goalkeeper Abdoulaye Diallo about bringing the man he used to work with at Stade Rennais to the City Ground.
Diallo is currently a free agent, having seen out the remainder of his contract in France, and although reports in Turkey (via GFFN) suggest that he is signing for Gençlerbirliği S.K, French football journalist Manu Lonjon says that he isn’t going to make a decision until after the African Cup of Nations.
However, what does this move mean for the potential signing of Manchester City’s Arijanet Muric, a move that has been in the works for some time?
I respect that every manager needs to make his own decision on the kind of team he wants, and that each manager should be allowed some level of comfort in signing players who he is familiar with, see Neil Warnock with Paddy Kenny, or for an example more closer to home, Brian Clough and John McGovern.
However, it would be a shame to let a move get this far down the pipeline and then be called off like this at the last minute. Even more of a shame when you consider where Muric is coming from and how highly he is regarded by arguably one of the greatest managers of all time.
If this move comes off for Diallo, then it opens up the door for Preston North End to come in and swoop Muric, and as I’ve said before Muric has the potential to be a star in this league and in the Premier League, so Forest can’t afford to let someone like this slip away from them.
If Lamouchi wants to bring in any other players from his former team then fine, Hatem Ben Arfa would be a great replacement for Joe Lolley if he fancies it, but stopping the move of Muric would be very much getting off to a bad start.
