Forest signed Jack Hunt in the summer from Crystal Palace on a loan deal until January. This was a deal done between Stuart Pearce and then Palace manager Tony Pulis. Since the start of the season Hunt has impressed in the right back position for Forest with several impressive performances. However, some supporters would argue maybe harshly that Hunt's performances of late haven't met those early season standards. Due to Hunt's impressive start to the season, Pearce began to negotiate a permanent deal with Palace when Pulis was still in charge. According to Pearce a deal had been agreed and they just needed to negotiate terms with the player himself which they failed to do in time before the transfer window shut. However, only a couple of weeks ago Pearce confirmed that they had agreed personal terms with Hunt. Pearce then later found out that Palace had now doubled their asking price for Hunt and had changed their original agreement. It is not known whether new manager Neil Warnock had anything to do with this as Palace co-chairman Steve Parish seems to take control of most transfer negotiations. This was a huge blow for Forest who thought they had managed to land the player on a permanent basis. It would be a huge blow for Forest to lose a player of his quality in January and then have to quickly find a replacement. Palace paid around £2 million for the player not too long ago and have warned Forest that several other clubs including Premiership clubs are interested in the player. Forest are still desperately trying to sort out a permanent deal though, with negotiations still going on between the two clubs. However, Pearce made it clear during the summer that he will not pay over the odds for any player which makes this deal much more difficult to complete.
Jack Hunt could be returning to Crystal Palace in January with Forest so far failing to agree a permanent deal for the player.
In addition to this there has also been recent rumours about the future of Jamaal Lascelles. Alan Pardew is said to be keen to bring Lascelles into Newcastle earlier than planned. The original deal was that Newcastle paid £7 million to buy Forest pair Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles and loan them back to Forest for the rest of the season with no recall clause. However, Pardew is now seemingly going back on this agreement and trying to get Lascelles back as early as January. He is claiming he is very short of defenders and needs cover. Newcastle have had a terrible start to the season winning their first game yesterday and they still remain in the bottom three. This could be why Pardew is appearing desperate to get Lascelles in earlier than planned. This is surprising considering Lascelles has struggled to even get in the Forest team of late with Michael Mancienne and Kelvin Wilson keeping him out of the team. Newcastle are said to be tempting Forest by offering Steven Taylor in exchange for getting Lascelles back earlier. This causes more confusion however as if they were short of defenders why would they then exchange a defender for a defender? Pardew must think that Lascelles can have a significant impact at Newcastle to make such a desperate attempt to get the loan ended early. This deal seems unlikely to happen but this could develop in the next few weeks possibly depending on how Newcastle themselves perform. It is unlikely that Pearce would allow one of his better younger players who he rates very highly leave in January. However, he is not short of cover in that position with many players who can play it such as Mancienne, Wilson, Hobbs, Fox, Halford and Collins. We will have to wait and see what happens with this rumour as it certainly has potential.
One thing that these two rumours do show is that no agreements are solid agreements which can't be changed. We have seen this so many times at Forest, most recently the Jack Hobbs deal back in January when in the end we had to pay out around £1 million to keep him permanently. Palace have this week shown that they have gone back on a agreement and doubled their price for Hunt. Then, recently Newcastle have also gone back on a agreement and now want Lascelles back in January when he was loaned out for the whole season with no recall clause. All of this shows that the transfer system needs to be sorted out as it is turning into complete shambles. Whatever happens with these two deals I am sure Pearce will make the correct decision for the benefit of Forest.
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