Credit: Imago

Evan Lloyd

Sat 23 May 2026 14:24, UK

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Nottingham Forest could well have found themselves paying £35million to sign Lorenzo Lucca permanently this summer.

The deal that saw the Italian arrive from Napoli ultimately became an option to buy, rather than an obligation, and decision-makers will be massively relieved that it was.

The 25-year-old had been coming off the back of a strong season, scoring 14 goals across all competitions before securing his move to the Serie A giants.

But Napoli quickly learned that Lucca was not the striker for them, and Sean Dyche took a chance on him in January.

Ahead of Sunday’s season finale, the Italy international has made a grand total of nine appearances, with Nottingham Forest transfer chiefs likely feeling as if they have dodged a bullet.

What has gone wrong for Lorenzo Lucca?

Lucca arrived at Nottingham Forest mainly to cover for the injury to Chris Wood, who has spent almost the entirety of the campaign out with a knee injury.

Igor Jesus was struggling to cover the New Zealand international on his own, and the arrival of the Italian was thought to provide great support.

And he could not have got off to a better start, scoring off the bench against Leeds United in February to mark his debut with a goal.

That would be the highlight of his time at the City Ground. Lucca has not scored since, making it off the bench in the Premier League just once since the end of February.

The Italian has suffered from a slight ankle injury, which likely resulted in a couple of absences, but his only route into the Nottingham Forest squad has been via the Europa League’s larger squad sizes.

The 25-year-old clearly has an ability to score goals, but for a striker seriously lacking in confidence, the City Ground was not the place to go.

Lucca has looked massively off the pace throughout his time in England, and Nottingham Forest will be relieved at not having to keep him past this summer.

Vitor Pereira explains Lucca snub

It was even more of a blow for Lucca when the out-of-favour Taiwo Awoniyi returned to the squad under Pereira and started to perform well.

Speaking after the Nigerian had been included over the Italian in his squad to play Fulham in March, the manager said: “I decided to go with Taiwo.

“My decisions about how you need to deserve what you get in life. It’s not about the quality, because he [Lucca] has quality. But, in this moment, in my opinion, Taiwo deserved to play, and it was my decision.

“This is about merit and about work, about the spirit. In 20 minutes, Awoniyi created a lot and had two chances to score. The last one was in the last second. He is a fighter, and I like this type of player, I like this mentality and spirit.”

On that basis, it is unsurprising that Lucca’s Nottingham Forest spell has been such a disaster. The striker will mark the end of a horror loan on Sunday.