Forest's defense almost complete - the commander of Mainz's back line has arrived

Nottingham Forest broke their club transfer purchase record when they brought Taiwo Awoniyi from Union Berlin for 20.5 million euros, but the new Premier League member is far from finished at the ongoing transfer market. The Foresters, the winners of the "most expensive football game in the world" last season, still have a lot of money available. And they will continue to spend it, which is confirmed by the latest news from City Ground.

Nottingham Forest have unveiled Moussa Niakhate, the fourth signing of the summer transfer window. The Frenchman plays as a center defender and comes from Mainz, to whom the English club will pay 15 million euros, 10 million immediately and the rest in bonuses, and the 26-year-old has signed a contract for three seasons.

Niakhate arrived in Mainz from Metz in July 2018 and in the recently concluded season led the German club to the best finish in the Bundesliga in the previous five years, which did not go unnoticed at the City Ground.

"Musa comes to Forest with a wealth of experience in one of Europe's biggest competitions, having played for Mainz in the Bundesliga for four seasons. As well as being a strong, fast and proven stopper, he captained Mainz to their best league success in for the last five years and his leadership has been invaluable to us following our return to the Premier League. Musa attracted interest from a number of clubs but chose Nottingham Forest and we are delighted to welcome him to the team," said the English club's coach Steve Cooper at the presentation of their latest reinforcement.

The Welsh expert should soon complete the rest of the defense. The priority will be the right flank, where there was a hole left after the return of Djed Spence to Middlesbrough, and the talented Englishman in that position should be succeeded by Neco Williams, a 21-year-old Liverpool player. According to the Telegraph, Forest are close to reaching an agreement with the Reds regarding the purchase of the Welsh international for 18.5 million euros.

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On the opposite sideline, the Foresters are working on bringing in Omar Richards, Bayern's left-back. The Munich club brought Richards from Reading last summer without compensation, but the Englishman did not impose himself as a valuable option, he only recorded a little more than 500 minutes in all competitions and the Bavarians are ready to let him go for 10-12 million euros. In addition to Richards, Nottingham would like to strengthen the competition on the left side by purchasing Huddersfield's Harry Toffolo, who has one year left on his contract with the Terriers.

A reminder, Forest have already loaned Dean Henderson from Manchester United, and spent 40.5 million euros altogether on Awoniyi, Niakhate and Gulian Biancone (Troy).