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Nottingham Forest are close to a loan agreement with Napoli for striker Lorenzo Lucca.
Personal terms with the striker are close to being agreed ahead of a loan, with an option to buy around the €40million they paid Udinese for him.
Lucca, 25, has been on loan at the Italian champions from the 10th-placed club since the summer and has scored once in 16 top-flight games this term.
Forest have been in the market for a striker this window, with last season’s top scorer Chris Wood sidelined with a knee injury. The Athletic reported last week that Iran international Mehdi Taremi was the top of their four-forward list with Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Jorgen Strand Larsen also under consideration.
The Nottingham club sit one place above the relegation zone in 17th, having scored nine goals less than Leeds United in 16th. They also let Arnaud Kalimuendo, a £26million ($35m) signing from Rennes, join Frankfurt on loan earlier this month. The 23-year-old has a goal and an assist in his first three Bundesliga matches.
The proposed deal for Lucca is not expected to affect their plans for Taremi, who the club sees to have similarities with Wood.
Lucca joined Napoli on a season-long loan from Udinese last summer as one of nine incoming players to Antonio Conte’s team. The head coach said to Sky in October he had “too many” signings and therefore had work to do to replicate the same chemistry as the season before.
Napoli are third in the league after 21 games but Lucca has only started four of them.
