Rio Ferdinand made a stray dig at Nottingham Forest while analyzing the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Manchester City.
The TNT Sports analyst was speaking with Joe Cole at Selhurst Park following Manchester City’s 4-2 victory earlier on Saturday when he made the comment regarding Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
So, what did Rio Ferdinand say about the Nottingham Forest? Let us have a look.
What Rio Ferdinand said about Nottingham Forest
Well, the 45-year-old and Cole were praising Crystal Palace’s recruitment of youthful talent, citing Ebere Eze, Michael Olise, and Adam Wharton as examples.
When discussing the latter, who was signed from Blackburn for £22 million in January, Ferdinand pointed out that the England U21 international has gone straight into Crystal Palace’s starting lineup and is playing, something he believes Nottingham Forest has been particularly bad at with new recruits.
The TNT Sports analyst joked, “He’s playing, that’s the important thing! Other clubs, including Forest, have not always done this.”
Nottingham Forest signed so many players after coming up, owing to an unusual contract situation in which numerous deals expired, as Martin Keown mentioned earlier this week.
That made recruitment more difficult, as Nottingham Forest needed to sign players to improve the starting XI while also adding options to pad out the roster and give depth, thus some did not go right into the lineup as Wharton did at Crystal Palace.
Quality not quantity
Nottingham Forest now has a fantastic squad with numerous possibilities.
Even huge names like Divock Origi and Gio Reyna, who Nottingham Forest are pleased with despite their lack of playing time, were left on the bench in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over Fulham.
Now, the emphasis should be on signing quality above quantity.
Nottingham Forest has done the hard work by packing out the roster, but now it is time to fine-tune the playing staff this summer.
Regardless of which division Nottingham Forest is in, there will be a lot of deadwood to shift, and the Reds hope to never have to go on such a frantic recruitment drive again.
