Nottingham Forest target second-season lift from last summer’s buys under Vitor Pereira | OneFootball

Vitor Pereira’s next task at Nottingham Forest is extracting second-season gains from last summer’s signings, as important as any new arrivals after a 16th-place finish.

According to NY Times, he arrived in February determined to make every player feel valued, speaking to Taiwo Awoniyi, Dilane Bakwa, James McAtee and Jair Cunha and setting individual plans. He used 24 players in the survival push, and that quartet all started the 3-1 win at Chelsea in May.

Pereira stresses a tight bond within the group and believes Forest can do more than 16th after a chaotic season.

Forest spent about £200million on 13 signings to compete in Europe, yet many have not hit their stride. Igor Jesus covered for Chris Wood’s injuries, and Omari Hutchinson improved under Pereira but lacked consistency.

With Hutchinson included, Ndoye, Bakwa and McAtee cost a little over £130million, yet potential remains largely untapped. McAtee has one league assist in 289 minutes, while Bakwa produced two in 552.

Ndoye was signed to help fill the Elanga void, but injuries intervened. He made no league appearance under Pereira, his last two starts were in the Europa League quarter-final success over Porto, and he finished with one league goal and one assist.

All four have limited Premier League experience, with Hutchinson scoring three in 31 for Ipswich and once for Forest, McAtee’s main exposure at Sheffield United, and Bakwa and Ndoye new to England. Forest want three or four quality additions this summer and have interest in Lucas Bergvall, but unlocking last summer’s quartet could feel like fresh signings.

Source: NY Times