Nottingham Forest’s reported pursuit of Newcastle United winger Christian Atsu appears to be gathering pace as the North East club look to shift £100,000 per week on fringe players by Friday’s domestic transfer deadline.
The Reds were first linked with a move for the 28-year-old Ghanaian in January when they were reported to be in talks with the player along with Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers and Fulham.
Atsu, who joined the Magpies from Chelsea in 2017 after a loan spell at St James’ Park, has made over 100 appearances for Newcastle, scoring eight goals, but is deemed surplus to requirements under manager Steve Bruce.
Watford are said to be leading the chase for the lively forward, but according to various reports, in both the Mirror and the Northern Echo , Forest have ‘expressed an interest’ in signing the winger and are ready to rival the Hornets for the signing.
The Chronicle report that Bruce is looking to shift around £100,000 per week in wages from his squad by Friday’s domestic deadline after it emerged that the cost of peripheral players prevented the boss from adding two of the players earmarked for loan slots.
United have Atsu, Achraf Lazaar, Henri Saivet and Rolando Aarons available after the quartet’s representatives were told to seek new clubs.
All four will be released at the end of the season but Bruce felt the pinch as he had to abandon tentative interest in Ross Barkley, who went to Aston Villa, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Both would have commanded sizeable loan fees and a demand to pay a high proportion of their £100,000 a week-plus contracts.
Newcastle expect Atsu to move out on loan with Watford or Forest his most likely destination.
He has played a total of 121 times for Newcastle, scoring eight goals and providing a further 10 assists. The winger has also played for Bournemouth and Everton in the Premier League.
Forest are on the lookout for creativity in the final days of the transfer window, with the Reds scoring just one goal in their opening five games in all competitions so far this season.
