Sheffield United attacker Iliman Ndiaye was seen by Nottingham Forest as the perfect backup option for Morgan Gibbs-White before the opportunity came up to sign Jesse Lingard, according to journalist Will Unwin.

Lingard came in before Gibbs-White, with the former becoming available following the expiration of his contract at Manchester United with Forest moving fastest to secure a move for him.

Signing for the Reds back in July, this addition was seen as a real statement of intent from Steve Cooper's side who endured a very busy summer transfer window at the City Ground following their return to the Premier League.

 

 

Gibbs-White then arrived during the mid-stages of August from Wolverhampton Wanderers in a deal that could potentially add up to £42m if certain clauses are met, with his price tag making it no surprise that he's been a regular starter in the East Midlands.

A rebuild was needed at the City Ground in the summer considering the volume of players that departed - but they made far more summer signings than some expected and this has given them a considerable amount of depth.

This depth was something that seemed to be on manager Cooper's mind throughout the summer, with Ndiaye previously being seen as a good backup option before Forest eventually opted against making a move for him.

The Verdict:

Unfortunately, things haven't worked out for the best for Lingard who hasn't been able to make the impact in the final third that he would have wanted.

For a man that has an impressive domestic and international CV, even scoring for England at the 2018 World Cup, he should be recording far more goalscoring contributions and you wonder whether he will be able to make any real impact before his current deal expires.

Gibbs-White should be a good signing for the long term though, as long as he can remain fit and in the starting lineup because the ex-Wolves man needs as much game time if he wants to improve further.

In terms of Ndiaye, the United man is probably happy to be where he is now because he's progressing extremely well under Paul Heckingbottom and wouldn't have been guaranteed a huge amount of game time in the East Midlands.

Some may be wondering how Ndiaye was seen as the perfect backup to Gibbs-White considering the latter came in after Lingard. Gibbs-White is likely to have been on Cooper's radar for some time considering the success they enjoyed together in England's youth setup, winning the U17 World Cup together back in 2017.