A backup to free-scoring Chris Wood appears to be one of Nottingham Forest’s top priorities in the January transfer window, with Evangelos Marinakis showing interest in one striker.
Jamie Carragher picked Wood to his Premier League squad of the season so far, which should come as no surprise given his 11 league goals.
Even some of football’s most knowledgeable figures have been taken aback by the Kiwi’s success, with Gary Lineker astonished by Wood’s dominance in Forest’s victory over Everton.
Wood’s outstanding performances this season have raised concerns about how the Forest side would cope if he were injured, prompting Nuno Espirito Santo to seek a trustworthy backup striker.
Forest is interested in Yuri Alberto as one of their most impressive backup alternatives, but a recent report suggests that one of the MLS’ top scorers could be an alternative for the Forest boss.
Nottingham Forest are interested in signing Petar Musa from FC Dallas.
According to journalist Rudy Galetti, Nottingham Forest is looking to sign Croatian striker Petar Musa, who may serve as a cost-effective backup to Wood.
Galetti earlier stated that FC Dallas had set a price of more than £18 million for Musa, but considering that they are “open to evaluating offers,” the deal should not be prohibitively expensive for Marinakis.
Forest appear to be competing with Leicester City for the 26-year-old, who scored 16 goals in 27 MLS appearances last season. While Leicester may be able to provide the Croatian with more definite playing time, Musa will most certainly be interested in Forest’s pursuit of European football.
Another advantage of signing Musa might be his statistical success for FC Dallas last season, which could see him provide something similar to Wood for Espirito Santo.
Petar Musa has similar strengths to Chris Wood.
Musa’s 16 goals clearly demonstrate that he has the ability to match Wood’s scoring record at Forest. However, when looking deeper into his MLS stats, Wood and Musa share more commonalities.
| Stats (per 90) | Chris Wood | Petar Musa |
| Touches in Opposition box | 3.07 | 5.67 |
| Aerial duels won | 3.01 | 3.13 |
| Aerial duels won % | 40.7 | 61.5 |
| Shots on target | 1.20 | 1.21 |
In reality, Musa outperforms Wood in two critical statistics: he has nearly two more touches in the opposing box each game and wins a significantly higher percentage of aerial duels up front.
After Wood equaled Forest’s Premier League scoring record, it will be extremely tough for any incoming striker to match his contributions to the Forest side. Musa’s statistical similarities, on the other hand, may provide him with the opportunity to match Wood’s performance with the support of the Forest coaching staff.
