The free transfer capture of 6ft 3 veteran striker Dele Adebola from Bristol City came as a surprise to nobody as we were told unofficially by the media that this deal had been done weeks ago. He may be getting on a bit at the age of 34, but there's no doubting that his physical presence will offer something to our attack, which was crying out for a big target man last season. I am not sure what Billy Davies' plans are for him. Will he mainly be used as a substitute, or does he intend to play him a lot from the start? But as a free transfer, we don't have much to lose. He will be very handy to have in the squad.
We've also signed 21-year-old David McGoldrick from Southampton for £1 million. He was born in Nottingham and started his career with Notts County, so is really happy to be playing for his home town club. He scored a respectable 14 goals for Southampton last season when they went down, so if he's part of a good team, which I think Forest will be next season, he might be capable of hitting the 20-goal mark. With McGoldrick, Adebola, Rob Earnshaw, Joe Garner, and Nathan Tyson all on our books, I don't think Forest will have to worry too much about scoring goals next season! Davies did say that he wanted six strikers, so we may well see the addition of another one soon. If we can sign Dexter Blackstock permanently from QPR, I will be very happy.
The best piece of news is that we've managed to persuade Paul Anderson to join us permanently from Liverpool! When was the last time Forest signed a promising young player from a big club like them? I don't recall it ever happening. What's more, we've only paid £250,000, which is an absolute bargain. It did seem like he was going back to Swansea where he was on loan the season before last as they had a bid accepted, but after Robert Martinez left for Wigan, Anderson didn't want to go there any more. We already know what he can offer to the team following his year on loan with us, so we know what we're getting, and that is a winger with plenty of pace and an eye for goal. We have not really seen the best of him yet, as his season was blighted by injury, but when he was in the side, there's no doubt that his contribution was immense as the vast majority of Forest's victories were earned when he featured. In particular, he offered us a very good attacking outlet away from home. It's a great bit of business, which underlines how ambitious the Club are in trying to regain their Premiership status.
