George Boateng to Walsall - off!

Forest 24-7 can confirm George Boateng will not be signing for Walsall.

News breaking in the past 30 minutes suggest the move has been discussed but will not be pursued any further.

Despite being a popular figure around the club, Boateng has made just 7 appearances for Forest this season, with only 2 of them being under Cotterill.

I would have liked this move to go through in all honesty.

While he is not a high earner, we are hardly in a position to be wasting money. Even if Walsall were to part fund his wages it would be a saving - same for any potential suitors for McGoldrick, Derbyshire and Majewski.

I guess we are stuck with him until the Summer.

It is worth just adding another potential League 1 loan as a footnote to this article. Reports are suggesting Robert Earnshaw could be about to go on loan to Sheffield Wednesday for the rest of the season.

I think we can all agree what a fantastic signing that is for them, particularly as I think he could come back here and do a job for us.

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More Transfer Rumour Updates

Yeah I said this would be weekly, I pretty much knew that'd be wrong, and that the rumours would come thick and fast. Thanks to those who have "tipped" m off with some, a lot was utter tosh of course but amongst it is some stuff that looks remotely believable.

Ins

Alex John Baptiste

Local lad Baptiste playing for Blackpool has been linked this week, with it mainly being IF we get rid of Morgan. Baptiste from Ollerton in Nottinghamshire is believed to be a Forest fan. He spent a long while at Mansfield Town. "Bap" has just been out for 3 weeks, so I’m not sure if this rumour was simply started by someone noticing he wasn’t playing and piecing together information from there, but it has a certain amount of possible truth to it.

Rob Earnshaw

Not going to happen, but people persists in linking him with a return. The fact we couldn’t afford to pay his wages before, and now with tighter restrictions and him having a better paid contract now than what we'd offer pretty much rounds this point off.



Outs

Chris Gunter,

Instead of West Brom, Fulham is the new rumoured home for him, although contrary to some reports it wasn't Martin Jol who signed for Spurs as he had left a few months previous. Gunter is likely to fetch around £2million.

Ishmael Miller

Only been here a short while, but already being linked with a departure to Middlesbrough, who don’t mind overspending on wages for strikers, they've been doing that since the 90's anyway (ahh Ravanelli, Boksic, Boyd, McDonald,

Wes Morgan

Wes is refusing to sign a new deal apparently so the club may be open to offers to bring in some kind of fee. Seems ludicrous when we have no centre halves and Wes would probably be happy to stay till June to help the club. Plus can you really see Wes in any other teams shirt?

Earnie Signing For Cardiff

A report this evening on WalesOnline is claiming Robert Earnshaw is about to sign for his original club Cardiff, where he is till regarded as a cult hero.

It will be a shame to loose Earnie to a promotion rival, but on the flip side, he wasn't at his best this season. I don't doubt however that he will still be able to do a sterling job for Forest, or for that matter Cardiff, IF this rumour which has yet to be verified (and a few tweets from Cardiff fans suggest this isn't the first time this source has jumped the gun on reporting a "story" before without it occurring)is true.

Lets be clear, if Cardiff have offered him more money than Forest have, then at his stage of his career with a young family, who are we to criticise, anyone of us would switch job doing the same thing for a better salary. The other matter is, Earnie was a very high earner at Forest, and if those wages are loosened off the wage bill, we might be able to use that money elsewhere on a player who may well be more reliable.

As said Earnie last year often flattered to deceive. Me and my mate I sit with often joke that half the time Earnshaw is so desperate to get the goal, that his play may not before the benefit for the team. The other thing is that his goalscoring wasn't amazing this year. Which obviously is vital.

That said,the club have obviously tried hard to keep him,and the fans will be mostly disappointed to lose him. He is well liked by everyone, and is aavery experienced head to have in the dressing room,which is what McClaren has decided is paramount.

But it might just be that Earnie has decided that this episode of his career is finished,and a new chapter is available. He may have seen the reception Bellamy got on his return,and think she would love that adulation. This is all conjecture of course.
If he does go back,the fans, the club, the city and his love for all three will be mentioned. I'd just hope we wouldn't boo him on any return.

Transfer Exits Rumours and Round Up

It was well known before and covered before but Nathan Tyson has of course departed to Derby.It says something when our reerve strikers are sought after by Derby. Good luck Nathan but you were no longer good enough.


Today has come the news that it looks likely that Paul McKenna will be moving to Hull City. It was broken by a couple of smaller sites,so I ignored until Sky have gone with it.To be fair to McKenna he is on the wane and has garnered the ire of many of our fans. He does still offer something, but if we are shipping him I wish him well.He was Davies man,so maybe now the Scot has gone McKenna wanted to move on too.

Rob Earnshaw was linked with a move to Palace. One report got it hopelessly wrong when it said we had released him, we haven't. He is still to agree a new deal that is on the table,and it remains to be seen if he will sign. Seeing as Palace are in and out of financial trouble I doubt it will be to them IF he does leave, as his wages aren't exactly cheap.The man himself said on Twitter he doesn't know where he will be next season.Forest have made an offer to Earnshaw,as they have with Moussi.

Julian Bennett has been told if he doesn't find a new club Forest will give him an extra year,to stand by him after his long term injury problems.


Mark Byrne and Niall Rodney have been released.

Earnshaw to Captain Wales for First Time

It's still very much up in the air whether he will be staying, as discussed earlier, but Robert Earnshaw is to captain Wales for the first time in his career tomorrow v Scotland.

It is part of the Home Nation series taking place in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium. Congrats to Earnie on this honour.

It will also be his 53rd Cap for the Zambian born striker

So Long, and Thankyou...

As previously reported it looked like Tyson, Moussi and others may be off.

Well the first confirmed departure is Dele Adebola,who it has been revealed has signed a deal with Hull. Two things spring to mind with me and Adebola. One it's really not much of a miss. Ok the big feller came on and scored one or two vital goals here and there, and he always tried his damndest, but lets face it, he was never good enough. In fact had we released him at the end of last season most would have been relieved. He won a few people more over this season, but he was never going to be leading the line for the Reds, used as a big lump to aim at when we really need it up in the area late on. Another aspect to this is that a "promotion rival" in Hull (I used inverted commas as I see them as nothing of the sort) has signed him. One of our cast offs being picked up by a rival can only be good news. Our players who aren't good enough are still sought after elsewhere, what does that say about us?

Nathan Tyson looks likely to sign a deal somewhere this week, with a number of clubs including Ipswich, Derby and Hull have been mentioned. The thing with Tyson is I don't begrudge the guy a move. He has been a number of years, but I still say he isn't a Championship quality player, as he can neither control the ball, finish or cross. That being said he has been therein some vital matches and no-one will ever forget the Man City goal, but lets face it,if we wan to kick on, he isn't good enough. Neither does he play enough being as injury prone as he is. We all laughed when Blackpool were linked last summer.

Julian Bennett is unlikely to be retained, as most readers will know I am not a fan of a player whose whole reputation is for effort. That will only take you so far, ability has to be there too and I'm afraid he doesn't have the requisite amount. Those who hold him high regard are usually the types of fan who celebrate a hard tackle as much as a goal. No doubt like Tyson he weighed in with some good performances but he is also a League 1 player. Palace didn't think much to him either, and they were rubbish. Indeed a 37 year old Edgar Davids was used as left back ahead of Bennett in a few games.

Paul Smith, won't be signing for Boro as they don't have any spare budget for wages. Thats because they are paying such ridiculous fees to former SPL rejects. Add in they only got him into cover injuries anyway, so they have keepers they already rate without adding more to their creaking wage bill.

Now we come to the two players where there is a lot of interest from Forest fans. There are numerous unconfirmed reports that Moussi has signed for Everton. There has been no concrete proof of this yet. To be fair he is so inconsistent that it might not be such a huge loss. When he is poor he might as well be an opponents twelfth man he gives away possession so much. That said he is a beast in the midfield.
Earnshaw has attracted supposed interest from Leicester and Cardiff. However the word is he wants to stay at Forest as he feels settled. The issue is we want him to take a pay cut. He does have a higher paid deal on offer elsewhere, but on a shorter term deal than we are offering (ie we are offering 2 years, the other deal offered by whoever is one year) I comes down to a quick pay day for Earnie or more stability, so its still very much in the air.

Nialle Rodney tweeted earlier today he doesn't know where he will be playing next year.

Transfer Gossip

The first load of transfer gossip has been circling now we where we will be playing next year. As usual we aren't revealing this as news,but a round up where we discuss possibilities

First up are potential In's

David Norris

The Ipswich midfielder is available for nothing. Having been voted player of the season for the Tractor Boys this season, he is also their captain. It would appear therefore that Davies is accepting that McKenna is becoming a spent force and is looking to get a new midfield general in. Leeds are also interested, and apparently, Stoke, Wigan and Bolton. Considering these teams are being linked with every Championship teams midfielders, including Moussi, that may not be accurate. Norris is 30, and would be looking for his last big contract of his career.


Kris Boyd

Now his loan is up,there are rumours Billy would like to make this a permanent deal. For one, Blackstock won't be back for awhile yet. Boyd scored a few vital goals in getting Forest over the line for the play offs. However, he isn't cheap. He is on big wages at Boro and we would have to at least offer nearly as much to bring him here permanently. I can't see Boyd volunteering up a 50% pay reduction which would be the minimum to bring him here. Shame,I was impressed with the big guy in the last few weeks. Let's hope he values football ahead of wages.


Billy Jones

I've been aware of him fr a while, what with a former housemate being a Crewe fan,he used to wax lyrical about him. He is available for a free after Prestons relegation and would be a very hand utility player. Like a better version of Perch, he can play in defence or midfield. His name has been mentioned a lot and it seems very likely we are in for him. Like Norris above he was his clubs player of the season, and is also attracting attention from elsewhere. He captained the team in the last game of the season.

There are also vague rumours surrounding Scott Loach signing, which would seem to depend on Camp leaving.


Now for potential outs

Joel Lynch

Today Sky have linked the backup defender to Millwall and Bristol City. As he barely featured at times last year, either through injury or being down the pecking order,it may be that the Reds want to move on the 23 year old after a few years at the club without much impact. Since joining from Brighton he has only ever been a back up, and it might be time to let him leave.


Nathan Tyson

As we all know he is out of contract. And Derby are heavily linked. Tyson is injury prone, has made terrible misses and is now 29 years old.It is probably time we went our separate ways. Tyson often spoke of being settled here and a move to Derby would make things easy for him to not move his young family.That said, Derby fans remember Flaggate and might not be the most welcoming to the prospect of a vilified figure joining them.


Robert Earnshaw

Leicester were heavily linked with Earnie last week, and that might be a viable option. Earnie is on a sizeable chunk of cash a week and Leicester are flush wit cash, where as we have told the Welshman tat if he wants to stay he has to take a big pay cut. Earnie has been frustrating at times. He obviously has talent, and a natural finisher, but there are times it seems like he tries to score audacious goals and fail rather than make a simple pass at times. Might be time to let him go,unless he does sign a cheaper deal. He did say the other day on Twitter, time to make some decisions about his future.

Also out of contract, Julian Bennett, Paul Smith and Dele Adebola are all likely to be released, with little news on where to. Guy Moussi is also out of contract, with a number of clubs being linked,in England and France,however there is increasing gossip that Moussi may sign a new deal and stay on.

There is also unfounded gossip about Camp, Chambers and McGugan leaving.These are merely forum based rumours with little or no substance in them.

International Update: Earnshaw and Gunter called up to Wales Squad

Robbie Earnshaw and Chris Gunter were today called up into Gary Speed's first Wales squad.

Both are scheduled to play some part in Wales' Carling Nations Cup game against the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday 8th February.

Speed has also gave a recall to ex-Forest loanee Aaron Ramsey, who is in line to make his first Wales appearance since breaking his leg last February.

Forest Look-a-likes 2

Owing to the popularity of the last lookalikes article we did, and anew flurry of them, we have the following new ones.
If you want to tell us about some lookalikes we haven't had yet, you can do so on the forum, the facebook page or via twitter, or even in the comments underneath.There is really no reason why you shouldn't as we have so many ways!!
The links are all on the right.

The Lookalikes

Luke Moore and Lewis McGugan



Bruno Mars and Robert Earnshaw



Yakubu and Wes Morgan




John Terry and a Transvestite