Nottingham Forest made ‘insulting’ offer for £13m target at City Ground | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest have ‘really annoyed Mainz’ with their opening offer for defender Moussa Niakhate, according to Daily Express journalist Ryan Taylor.

The newly-promoted side are looking to bolster Steve Cooper’s first-team squad ahead of their first Premier League campaign in over 20 years but may be forced to move on to alternative targets.

Reliable Sky Sports Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has revealed that negotiations between the two clubs are now ‘complicated’ after Forest made a ‘ridiculous’ initial approach.

It’s claimed that the Midlands outfit offered a fee ‘far below’ €10 million (£8.6m) and that there is no longer a ‘willingness to talk’ from the Bundesliga outfit’s perspective.

Plettenberg had previously revealed that Niakhate ‘wants to join’ Forest and that a ‘verbal agreement’ had already been reached with the player, who is said to have a €15m (£13m) price tag.

Fellow Premier League sides Everton, West Ham and Newcastle United have formerly been listed as potential suitors for the centre-back and could now be encouraged to revive their interest.

What has Taylor said about Niakhate?

Several new signings are expected to arrive at the City Ground this summer, with loanees Djed Spence, James Garner and Kienan Davis not guaranteed to return to the club.

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However, securing the signature of Niakhate may now prove difficult for Steve Cooper’s charges after Taylor disclosed that Mainz ‘don’t want to sell the player to them anymore’.

He told GiveMeSport: “Niakhate is an interesting one because last week when I was digging into that, I was told that Forest were prepared to offer £10 million, but the first offer they’ve gone in with was so low that it’s really annoyed Mainz, who ideally don’t want to sell the player to them anymore because they find it insulting.”

Would Niakhate be a good signing?

At 26, Niakhate has plenty of experience under his belt, racking up 249 senior club appearances throughout his career for FC Metz, Valenciennes and Mainz.

The former France Under-21 international helped Mainz to an eight-placed finish in the German top-flight last term and put up some impressive underlying numbers.

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We’ll start with an easy one – who provided the assist for Ilkay Gundogan’s title winning goal?

Fernandinho Kevin De Bruyne Bernardo Silva Rodri

As per FBref, the 6 foot 3 ace ranked in the 90th percentile for progressive passes, 86th for pressures and the 84th for interceptions when compared to his positional peers over the last year.

If Forest can entice Mainz back around the negotiating table, then Niakhate could prove to be an astute acquisition for Cooper, but that will be easier said than done.