Nottingham Forest’s rise not a surprise given transfer spend, Arne Slot suggests
Nottingham Forest’s rise not a surprise given transfer spend, Arne Slot suggests
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Arne Slot has said Nottingham Forest’s impressive rise should not come as a complete surprise given they have spent more money on transfers than Liverpool since winning promotion to the Premier League. The Liverpool head coach admits it is an “unbelievable accomplishment” for Nuno Espírito Santo and his team to sit third. Forest could reduce the gap on the Premier League leaders to three points with victory at the City Ground on Tuesday, albeit having played a game more.
![[Chris Wood, Morgan Gibbs-White and Neco Williams]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/086e21ca7be063ed56795a81dac5ff7774212eba/0_243_3537_2121/master/3537.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Slot is full of praise for Forest’s improvement, and acutely aware of their threat having lost against Nuno’s side at Anfield in September, but he believes there should be some financial perspective applied. Forest have spent more than £360m since returning to the Premier League in 2022, with a net spend of about £215m. Liverpool have spent just over £300m and have a net spend of £144m in that time. On that basis, Slot rejected comparisons between Forest’s season and when his AZ Alkmaar team challenged Ajax for the Eredivisie title in the aborted 2019-20 campaign.
“I don’t think you can compare it completely as AZ has always been a club that finishes third, fourth or fifth in the league,” he said. “I don’t think Forest in the last 10 seasons ended third, fourth or fifth. What I maybe underestimated was their spending. They have spent more money than us in the last three years. You know if you spend so much money you will have good players, and then you need a manager who brings that out of them. That is what Nuno is doing great at the moment.
