Nottingham Forest weighing up contract offers for duo | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest will be looking to offer Joe Worrall and Scott McKenna new deals following their promotion to the Premier League, as per a report from 90min.

The Reds’ defence was key to their success during the 2021/22 campaign, conceding just 40 times in 46 league matches as they aided their rapid rise up the second-tier table following Steve Cooper’s arrival.

Considering 12 of these goals came during Chris Hughton’s torrid seven-game spell at the start of last term, this makes their defensive record even more impressive with Worrall and McKenna being two of the first names on the teamsheet.

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The East Midlands will have a much bigger budget to work with following their rise to the Premier League and according to this report from 90min, they want to focus on bringing some of their loanees back on a permanent basis.

This includes Middlesbrough’s Djed Spence who is likely to be sold for a sizeable eight-figure this summer, taking up a decent chunk of Forest’s budget as they look to recruit the players needed to remain afloat in the top flight.

However, they will also look at offering some of their existing players new deals, including Brennan Johnson, Worrall and McKenna. The latter two’s deals at the City Ground aren’t set to expire until the summer of 2024, giving them a considerable amount of power at the negotiating table if bids were to come in for either during the summer.

But officials at the club are already looking into the possibility of offering both fresh terms as both look set to stay put beyond the summer.

The Verdict:

This would be a shrewd move from Forest considering how integral the duo have been to their cause over the past couple of years.

Not only have they given the Reds the platform to go on and win promotion – but they were also crucial during the 2020/21 campaign in ensuring the club remained in the second tier despite their poor attacking record.

The pair and Steve Cook seem like a solid trio in defence and if anyone is to drop out of the starting lineup at this point in favour of a potential new addition, it would probably be the ex-AFC Bournemouth captain.

That’s how good Worrall and McKenna have been and with the former being linked with top-flight teams over the past 12 months, getting him tied down will be crucial. That shouldn’t be too difficult now with their promotion and the 25-year-old being born locally.

McKenna should receive his fair share of the praise though because outside of Nottingham, he is highly underrated and although that can only be a positive for Cooper’s side in their quest to retain him, his performances should be highlighted as an extremely consistent figure at the back.