All 16 Edu signings at Nottingham Forest ranked from worst to… least worst | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest are parting company with former Arsenal sporting director Edu after less than a year and a more than questionable success rate of signings under his watch.

It’s been a chaotic season for Forest, who began the campaign with Europa League football to look forward to but have since sacked three managers whilst navigating a relegation battle. Now, Edu is also in the firing line.

After his appointment as their Global Head of Football on 7th July, Forest went on a massive recruitment drive. But some of the players signed on Edu’s watch have left Forest already.

Their lowly position in the Premier League implies there haven’t been many improvements to the squad that finished seventh under Nuno Espirito Santo last season. In contrast, back at Arsenal, Edu’s successor Andrea Berta has made a better attempt at strengthening the squad.

We’ve ranked Forest’s signings of the Edu era from worst to some variant of ‘best’, although it’s definitely a bottom-heavy ranking at this stage.

16. Cuiabano

There’s nothing to record of Cuiabano’s time in a Forest shirt yet. The left-back joined from Botafogo in the summer but was loaned straight back, before sealing a new loan move to Vasco da Gama earlier this year.

15. James McAtee

There was plenty of interest in McAtee when the time came for him to leave Manchester City, with Forest spending £30m to win the race.

He won’t have generated too much regret from the rival suitors that missed out on him, though, considering he’s only started one Premier League game for his new club.

An unused substitute more often than not, the attacking midfielder’s only goal contribution so far has been a penalty against Ferencvaros in the Europa League.

14. Arnaud Kalimuendo

After a couple of productive seasons with Rennes, Kalimuendo seemed ripe to take the next step of his career in the summer.

But he failed to bring his goalscoring boots with him to England, failing to score in the Premier League and only scoring twice in the Europa League.

By the January transfer window, Forest were offloading the forward on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt.

13. Douglas Luiz

Luiz struggled at Juventus last summer, but his previous exploits in the Premier League with Aston Villa – from whom Edu had previously wanted to sign him for Arsenal – made him seem worth the risk when Forest took him on loan.

It was an experiment that didn’t pay off. Luiz only started five league games for Forest and was held back by thigh problems.

His stay at the City Ground was terminated halfway through his loan so he could return to Villa instead.

12. Dilane Bakwa

After starting the season in fine form for Strasbourg with a goal and three assists from the first three Ligue 1 games, Bakwa has struggled to bring that kind of form with him to England.

The winger took until January – after recovering from a hamstring injury – to record his first Premier League assist and he is yet to score for Forest.

Only three of his appearances in the league have been starts and he is yet to complete the full 90 minutes of any game for his new club.

11. Oleksandr Zinchenko

Previously signed by Edu for Arsenal, Zinchenko had fallen down the pecking order at the Emirates Stadium before securing a deadline-day loan move to Forest.

His fortunes didn’t improve too much in terms of gametime and the deal was terminated without much fuss to allow Arsenal to sell him to Ajax in February.

The left-back departed Forest with just five league appearances to his name after an injury-hit spell.

10. Angus Gunn

Picked up on a free transfer in August for goalkeeping depth, Gunn made his debut as a half-time substitute for Matz Sels due to injury in February.

9. Lorenzo Lucca

Signed in January on loan from Napoli, lofty striker Lucca scored on his Forest debut against Leeds, but he hasn’t been able to build from it.

He drew a blank on his first start five days later and remains stuck on one goal from five games.

There have been reports of an injury holding him back, but it’s hard to see Forest wanting to go through with their option to buy for a fee in the region of £35million.

At least he’s entered the pantheon of great football nicknames; his new team-mates have christened him ‘Pizza Crouch’.

8. Luca Netz

Both of Netz’s appearances so far since joining Forest on deadline day in February have been as a substitute and both ended in defeat.

However, a fee of just over £1million for a player with more than 100 Bundesliga appearances to his name could become a decent investment in time. It’s too early to judge at the moment.

7. Dan Ndoye

One of Forest’s most expensive signings of all time, Ndoye arrived from Serie A side Bologna after scoring nine goals and providing six assists last season.

The winger is some way off those numbers this term. Things started in promising fashion as he scored on his Premier League debut and got an assist the week after, but those remain his only goal contributions in the league so far.

6. John Victor

The third and final player to move from Botafogo to Forest in the summer – in his case, after a move to West Ham fell through – goalkeeper John initially served as the backup to Matz Sels.

He kept a clean sheet on his Premier League debut against Tottenham in December, which was the first of five consecutive top-flight starts until he was halted by a serious knee injury that has ended his season prematurely.

John made a calamitous error shortly before being taken off with that injury against Aston Villa, rushing out of his goal and getting nowhere near the ball.

5. Stefan Ortega

Having fallen to third choice at Manchester City, Ortega was picked up by Forest in February. The experienced goalkeeper debuted five days later.

He played five times that month – including twice in the Europa League play-offs – before being disrupted by a calf injury.

4. Jair Cunha

Only 20 years old when Forest brought him to the Premier League from Botafogo, Cunha waited until October for his top-flight debut and only earned his second and third league appearances earlier this month.

The defender was also left out of their squad for the league phase of the Europa League, but was included for the knockout phase in a sign that he’s starting to work his way into the first-team plans.

3. Nicolo Savona

On the back of his debut season in the Juventus first team, Savona was signed by Forest for just over £11m.

The right-back featured fairly heavily for Forest over the first half of the season, but started to lose his place after Christmas and is now a doubt to play again this season due to a knee injury.

2. Igor Jesus

Technically, Jesus’ arrival at Forest was announced a couple of days before Edu’s, but he was the first of three signings from Botafogo ahead of the new season.

The striker’s record in the Europa League makes for encouraging reading: seven goals from eight games. Likewise, he has three goals from two games in the domestic cups.

But the Brazilian only has two goals from 28 appearances in the Premier League. He claws back some credit for getting three assists, with two of those coming this month.

1. Omari Hutchinson

The costliest signing of the summer for Forest, Hutchinson joined from Ipswich Town for £37.5million after their relegation.

His 22 appearances in the league since have been split evenly between starts and cameos from the bench.

While the fact he’s only scored once doesn’t look great, the winger has contributed five assists in the league as well as one in the EFL Cup, which makes him Forest’s top assist provider in all competitions this season.