Nottingham Forest fans never felt that Elliot Anderson would play at the City Ground come September. The interest from the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United was too intense.

He produced the goods across two years in Nottingham, and Anderson's sale returned a £116m cheque through which Oliver Glasner is strengthening his squad after replacing Vitor Pereira this summer.

Austria international Xaver Schagler has signed, and a deal for centre-back Ousmane Diomande is in the works. The Sporting CP star will help shape the manager's anticipated three-man defence.

How Forest will change under Glasner

Under Glasner's management, Nottingham Forest will be all about possession, claiming the ball and taking it upfield, into dangerous positions.

Yes, they will undergo a transformation, but Glasner is not beholden to his preferred formation. Instead, he is shaping this team to tailor to the players at hand.

With this in mind, you wonder whether the Tricky Trees will attempt to bring a few Palace players over to the City Ground. Jean-Philippe Mateta, for example, could be chosen, having come close to completing such a move back in January.

One linchpin who won't be joining his former coach is Adam Wharton, sadly. The England international is a maestro of a midfielder, with an incredible range of passing, but he would cost around £100m, and given the likes of Liverpool are keen, it doesn't feel very plausible.

However, Glasner could create his own version of Wharton in another young midfielder who is very much on Evangelos Marinakis' radar ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.

Nottingham Forest must act ASAP to sign top target

Wharton is one of the best English midfielders out there, and he would be a credit to Glasner's Nottingham Forest.

However, Glasner is starting afresh, and he could maintain their trend by completing a deal for Tottenham Hotspur's Lucas Bergvall. Two offers for the Sweden star have already been rejected, the latest of which totalled £45m.

However, according to TEAMtalk, Brighton are now preparing to blow their rivals out of the water by meeting and maybe even eclipsing the £50m valuation Spurs have set. With this in mind, it's crucial that Forest put their foot on the pedal and bring the 20-year-old over as quickly as they can.

There is no question that Bergvall is currently not playing on Wharton's level, but it cannot be understated how turbulent things have been at Tottenham over the past few years, and the prospect has still managed to shine, winning the Europa League in 2024/25 and standing proud as a shining light, often belying his youth and inexperience to outperform his so-called senior teammates.

The Spurs star, who was in talks to join Barcelona back in January 2025 before Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham hijacked the deal, has played 78 times for his current employers, and his close control, technicality and natural progressiveness all mark him down as a prototypical Glasner player.

Think of this as a calculated gamble. Bergvall is only going to improve in a more stable setting, and while he has been outperformed by Wharton in the Premier League so far, he has shown immense amount of potential, described as being "unstoppable" when surging forward on the ball by former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

Indeed, Bergvall completed 63% of his dribbles in the Premier League last season, putting him in the top 6% bracket for that metric. Moreover, he was rarely dispossessed and got stuck in by making 2.05 tackles per game. This is a youngster with the makings of a complete midfielder.

He is tidy in possession, but not so surgically endowed as Wharton, a natural-born technician. Still, Glasner would secure a fantastic signing in Bergvall, who is still only 20 and still improving, growing into his skin.

In February 2024, Wharton joined Crystal Palace from Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, and he has since come on leaps and bounds, instrumental in winning the FA Cup and then the Conference League under Glasner's wing.

Bergvall could be the Austrian coach's new version, in a new setting. Brighton are advancing, so it's crucial that the Tricky Trees make a big push in the coming days.