Nottingham Forest legend Kenny Burns has suggested that the club need to sell forward Lewis Grabban and sign Newcastle United's Dwight Gayle if they are to have a chance of promotion this season.
Grabban was the Reds' top-scorer in the 2018/19 campaign, finding the net 17 times in 41 appearances, after joining the club last summer.
Forest lost their opening game of the season against West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon, and, writing in his column for the Nottingham Post, Burns criticised the forward's performance.
He wrote: "I just felt like he wasn’t interested, it’s a real concern with time running out to change things.
"He moped about, he barely showed any effort and just flopped on the floor hoping to get a free-kick from the referee.
"Grabban doesn’t do enough and his work rate must frustrate other players in the dressing room because I’ll tell you one thing, if I was playing with him, he’d know my feelings without any shadow of a doubt.
"I’ve written in this column previously that I felt he didn’t look happy, that he looked frustrated and now I feel it’s something Forest must actively deal with."
"If this club wants promotion, then that’s something you can’t do it on the cheap. It costs good money and trying to move Grabban out of the City Ground is paramount, as is replacing him with proven quality.
Burns indicated that Gayle would be an ideal target for the Reds.
He wrote: "Dwight Gayle would be among my choices for his ability to score goals in the Championship, if not for his ability to win dodgy penalties.
"He was excellent at West Brom last season scoring 24 times for the Baggies – and he’s got the movement and ability to be a success at Forest, he’d get the crowd off their seat."
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The Verdict
Selling Grabban this close to the end of the transfer window would be a massive call by new boss Sabri Lamouchi.
There would likely be a market for the forward, given he has scored more than 100 goals in English football, but bringing in a quality replacement would be tough – they would face lots of competition and it would certainly not be cheap.
However, Grabban does not have a history of staying at clubs for very long, having been at six clubs in the last three-and-a-half years, and the way he acted at Sunderland should raise some red flags.
If Forest could add Gayle it would be an excellent move and an improvement to the squad but given the uncertainty of making that happen, it would be a huge, huge risk for them to take with just three days until the transfer window closes. I can't see the club taking Burns' advice.