Nottingham Forest have begun contract talks with striker Chris Wooden.
The New Zealand worldwide’s present deal is about to run out on the finish of the season.
However with the 32-year-old having scored seven objectives already, amid a optimistic begin to the marketing campaign underneath Nuno Espirito Santo, the membership are eager to tie down his future.
Talks are within the early levels however Forest are hopeful of agreeing phrases on a deal to make sure Wooden stays on the Metropolis Floor past the summer season.
Wooden initially joined Forest on mortgage from Newcastle United in January 2023, though the deal included a clause that stipulated that the transfer would turn out to be everlasting — for a payment of £15million — the next summer season, if he made simply three appearances.
In 34 begins and 13 sub appearances for Forest within the Premier League, Wooden has scored 22 objectives.
He has significantly flourished underneath Nuno, who noticed the Auckland born participant rating twice in opposition to former membership Leicester Metropolis on Friday, to assist Forest to a 3-1 win.
GO DEEPER
How Wooden is closing in on Forest’s Premier League goalscoring file
How has Wooden turn out to be such an necessary determine for Forest?
There’s a good probability that, between now and the tip of the season, Wooden will turn out to be Forest’s file aim scorer within the Premier League.
His brace in opposition to Leicester took him stage with Stan Collymore on 22 objectives and he now trails Collymore’s former strike associate and present file scorer, Bryan Roy, by two objectives.
There was a collective shrug of the shoulders in Nottingham when Wooden first signed however, whereas it took a bit of time, he has emphatically received followers over since. By no means extra so than this season, when his statistics have underlined the size of the impression he has made.
Wooden’s seven objectives symbolize 64 per cent of the 11 objectives Forest have scored this season. What makes it extra spectacular is that Wooden has achieved that from solely 19 photographs in 9 league appearances.
He’s a confirmed high flight striker who has hit peak kind to assist Forest climb to eighth within the desk and counsel that they’re able to take an enormous step on from the relegation fights they’ve discovered themselves in in the course of the earlier two seasons.
The £15m payment that originally raised some eyebrows now seems to be nice worth for cash.
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Photographs)
