Nottingham Forest have been handed a huge boost in their pursuit of a renowned transfer target…

What’s the word?

Taking to Twitter, Fabrizio Romano issued an update on the pursuit of Atletico Madrid full-back Renan Lodi by the Reds' director of football Kyriakos Dourekas.

The Italian tweeted: “Nottingham Forest are pushing to sign Renan Lodi on loan from Atletico Madrid. €5m loan fee offered, also buy option could be included - around €30m. Talks still ongoing on clubs and player side, but Forest are pushing after Atletico changed their position on LB”.

The Brazil international has two years left on his £61k-per-week deal with the La Liga giants.

He’s better than Toffolo

Although Harry Toffolo enjoyed a remarkable 2021/22 season for Huddersfield Town, he has started life in the Premier League with a bit of a whimper, registering zero goal contributions in Forest's opening three games.

Last season's haul of six goals and seven assists marked an outstanding Championship campaign from the 26-year-old as the Terriers reached the play-off final, where they were defeated by the Tricky Trees.

These figures become somewhat hard to compare against the Brazilian, who did not record as many goal contributions but featured across both La Liga and the Champions League in 2021/22.

Across all competitions, his 42 games yielded four goals and six assists. This is not far off Toffolo’s Championship return in the same number of regular season matches, with some of Lodi’s goal contributions even coming in Europe’s elite club competition.

The 24-year-old also has plenty of familiarity playing at wing-back, with his underlying figures in comparison to positional peers in Europe's top five leagues last season further proving his mastery of the role.

Lodi ranks in the top 5% for non-penalty goals, hinting at a proficiency in front of goal, whilst also ranking in the top 2% for progressive passes received and top 7% for touches in the attacking penalty area. He is a constant threat, and clearly quite a clinical one too.

In 2021/22, the Atletico defender had a greater shots on target percentage (40% to 35.7%) and more shots per game (0.76 to 0.71) than Toffolo, so he would appear to offer Forest a greater attacking threat if he were to come to the City Ground.

It seems strange that Diego Simeone is so receptive to his possible exit, given how just last season the Atletico manager noted the “important role” that Lodi could play under him.

Their potential loss could now be Cooper’s gain, as the Forest manager might already be able to improve upon the signing of Toffolo with this talented Brazilian star who already has experience at the highest level, and the ability to back it up.