{"id":106019,"date":"2025-05-16T10:26:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T10:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106019\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T10:26:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T10:26:16","slug":"nottingham-forests-15m-man-rejected-west-ham-and-hes-exactly-what-graham-potter-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/106019\/","title":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest’s \u00a315m man rejected West Ham and he’s exactly what Graham Potter needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As West Ham United welcome Nottingham Forest for their final home game of the Premier League season, the London Stadium outfit prepare to face off against a side whose stunning ascent should act as an inspiration for a team trailing eight places and 22 points behind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only a couple of years ago, West Ham United<\/a> were the team threatening to force their way into the established elite.<\/p>\n

David Moyes guided The Hammers to sixth place in 2020\/21. Only two points adrift of the Champions League places. The following two seasons, West Ham \u2013 perched on the brink of the big time \u2013 would finish a creditable seventh before beating Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.<\/p>\n

Now, two years on from Jarrod Bowen\u2019s<\/a> dramatic late strike had David Moyes<\/a> slipping on his dancing shoes and turning the West Ham dressing room into his own personal ballroom, the Londoners have plumetted from the fringes of the top four to the depths of 15th place.<\/p>\n

Nottingham Forest, in stark contrast, have been transformed from relegation candidates to European chasers in the space of only a few months. <\/p>\n

As West Ham flounder, Forest fly higher than even the most optimistic of supporters would have dared to imagine.<\/p>\n

Nuno Espirito Santo\u2019s coupon-busters may have fallen short of their top-four ambitions but, back on the continental stage after a 30-year absence, the two-time European champions are proof of what can be achieved with some inspired recruitment and a clear, coherent style of play.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Catherine Ivill \u2013 AMA\/Getty ImagesAnthony Elanga rejected West Ham United for Nottingham Forest<\/p>\n

Back at West Ham, Graham Potter<\/a> is hoping to provide the latter after the muddled reign of Julen Lopetegui. While Potter\u2019s ideas are yet to really take shape, the former Chelsea and Brighton coach is a man with a consistent philosophy and a proven track record of building teams greater than the sum of their parts when given time and backing.<\/p>\n

Whether his West Ham bosses can provide that, however, is another story. Because while Brighton are perhaps the Premier League\u2019s stand-out outfit when it comes to recruiting top talent for low prices, West Ham\u2019s record in the recruitment department makes more far less impressive reading.<\/p>\n

In an era where Forest brought in Chris Wood, Elliot Anderson, Murillo, Matz Sels, Ola Aina and Nikola Milenkovic, West Ham splurged \u2013 some may say \u2018wasted\u2019 \u2013 over \u00a3130 million James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Edson Alvarez, Niclas Fullkrug and Luis Guilherme.<\/p>\n

Missing out on Anthony Elanga to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2023, meanwhile, feels like the sort of sliding doors\u2019 moment which West Ham frequently find themselves on the wrong side of.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

According to The Telegraph<\/a>, Elanga rejected West Ham when leaving Manchester United<\/a>, instead opting for the City Ground. They do not explain why. Though the Daily Mail<\/a> point out that Everton were snubbed by the Sweden international due to concerns over Sean Dyche\u2019s tactics.<\/p>\n

Under David Moyes, the West Ham faithful frequently expressed many of the same concerns that came the way of Dyche at Goodison Park. Despite having secured a special place in the hearts of every Hammer, Moyes\u2019 inability to get the best out of the club\u2019s most naturally-talented attackers became a major bone of contention before the Scot\u2019s departure in 2024.<\/p>\n

Perhaps, after watching Gianluca Scamacca and Lucas Paqueta struggle to perform consistently under Moyes\u2019 rigid regime, Elanga felt he would be straightjacketed somewhat in claret and blue. <\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, the fact is that Elanga has blossomed into one of the Premier League\u2019s most productive attackers while West Ham have become more reliant than ever upon long-serving talisman Jarrod Bowen and the seemingly-departing Tomas Soucek.<\/p>\n

Elanga is exactly what Graham Potter is missing at the London Stadium<\/p>\n

Should the towering midfielder go \u2013 Everton and Leeds have held talks already<\/a> \u2013 Bowen may be the only player at West Ham having scored more than four goals in the 2024\/25 Premier League campaign. <\/p>\n

Elanga \u2013 31 goal contributions in 80 Forest appearances \u2013 also has comfortably more assists this term than any Hammers player.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, after Crysencio Summerville picked up a season-ending injury<\/a> in January, Bowen is the only attacker at Potter\u2019s disposal with any real speed. Thus, leaving a sluggish, predictable, one-paced West Ham side reliant upon moments of individual brilliance from their inspirational captain.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Forest\u2019s success has been built around a rapid counter-attacking approach carried by the speed of Callum Hudson-Odoi and Anthony Elanga. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Per the official Premier League website<\/a>, Elanga has not only spent more time sprinting than any other player in the division this term, he has also been clocked as the league\u2019s fifth-fastest. <\/p>\n

Behind only Yankuba Minteh, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Nunes and Micky van de Ven.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a special boy and he gives this team his speed,\u201d Nuno beamed after Elanga returned to haunt his old employers in a 1-0 win over Man United. \u201cHe [scores the winning goal] by himself and we are delighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six weeks after Elanga turned on the afterburners and left Man United\u2019s backline choking on his dust, West Ham may also be handed a similarly brutal reminder about what they could have had.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As West Ham United welcome Nottingham Forest for their final home game of the Premier League season, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[1099,94,15486,101,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-106019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-anthony-elanga","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jarrod-bowen","11":"tag-premier-league","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114517035176432970","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}