Nottingham Forest are negotiating with Stuttgart over a deal to sign midfielder Orel Mangala.
Forest have been incredibly active this summer as they prepare themselves for their long-awaited return to the top flight, with recent signing Jesse Lingard the 12th new face at The City Ground – and there are plans to add to that.
Sources have confirmed to 90min that the next player on the radar is 24-year-old Mangala and talks are well underway in an attempt to thrash out a deal that could be worth a total of €15m.
Forest are looking to pay €12m up front and are happy to include add-ons to take the deal closer to Stuttgart’s asking price.
Mangala has impressed during his five years on the books at Stuttgart and was rewarded with a maiden appearance for Roberto Martinez’s Belgium squad back in March, turning out in friendlies against both Ireland and Burkina Faso.
He was dropped for this summer’s international break and Mangala’s agent recently revealed that the midfielder’s primary focus is not money, but a platform to get himself back into Martinez’s plans for the upcoming World Cup.
“Orel needs playing time. The World Cup is his goal,†representative Mehmet Eser told SWR Sport recently.
“For the next step, the perspective of the project must be right. The money is secondary.â€