Chris Wood completes move to Nottingham Forest from Newcastle

He's joined on loan until the end of the season, but it could turn into a permanent move until summer 2024

Chris Wood has become Nottingham Forest’s 24th signing of the season after joining on loan from Newcastle.

The 31-year-old will spend the rest of the campaign at the City Ground and the move will become a permanent one until the summer of 2024 if certain conditions are met.

He leaves St James’ Park after 12 months, having joined from Burnley for £25million and played a big part in Newcastle’s survival.

But he has fallen down the pecking order behind Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak and will get regular action under Steve Cooper at Forest following a long-term injury to Taiwo Awoniyi.

“It’s a great feeling and I am very thankful to be here,” the New Zealand international said.

“Nottingham Forest is a massive club which I have come up against a number of times, but it’s nice now to be able to pull on the red shirt and fight for the club.

“You can see the transition over the past 18 months and it’s progressing in the right way. It’s a project that’s going in the right direction.

“It’s a club looking up rather than anything else, it’s going to take a lot of hard work, but it’s a squad that’s pulling together.

“I’ve been in this league a long time, so hopefully I’ll bring a lot of experience to try and help the younger lads out and bring everybody together.”

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is hopeful he can replace Wood, warning that the striker’s move could leave the team “dangerously short of players”.

“He’s been a huge player for us,” Howe said.

“I have to say he has been outstanding in every way because I think when we signed him we were in a very difficult league position, he’s played a huge part on the pitch to transform the team or help transform the team.

“Then this season he’s been excellent both on and off the pitch in terms of his leadership and positivity and when he’s not played, so you can’t underestimate the role he’s played.

“It was a difficult decision, taking into account the player and his wishes, but also I think it’s a good deal financially for the football club.”

Wood’s departure will leave Newcastle with Isak and Wilson as their forward options and Howe stressed a new addition in the January transfer window must be “the right player”.

He added: “[We’re] hopefully planning to replace him, certainly from my side there was no thought of letting a player go and not replacing because I think that would leave us dangerously short of players, but there’s no guarantees.

“I don’t think we’ll necessarily replace Chris with another Chris, if that makes sense.

“We’re not necessarily looking for that type of player in the market, but we’ll see what we can do with 11 days to go. It’s not long, but it’s got to be the right player, that’s always so important in any transfer deal we look to do.

“We would have targets we would pursue for sure and we’ll see how we go. I think it’s important not just to have one, we have a pool of players that we like.”

Newcastle face Crystal Palace on Saturday, a side they drew 0-0 with in September and beat 3-2 on penalties in the Carabao Cup.

Howe revealed that Bruno Guimaraes has had a scan on the ankle injury he picked up against Fulham on Sunday and is “making good progress”, but is unsure when the Brazilian will return.

Published: 20/01/2023 by Radio NewsHub