Stefan Borson: Nottingham Forest alarm bells ringing with hidden '£90m' reveal
Nottingham Forest's biggest issue now is a rising wage bill as Evangelos Marinakis continues to make improvements to the squad.
That is according to former Manchester City financial adviser Stefan Borson, who exclusively told Football Insider that Forest do not have a "good ratio" when it comes to turnover and wages.
The Reds have been no strangers to splashing the cash since winning promotion back to the Premier League, spending nearly £150million during the ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.
Even last summer, Marinakis got his chequebook out for almost £100m in player transfers, including a £35m deal for Elliot Anderson.
With the England international now signing for Manchester City on a £116m deal, there are very few financial concerns, but there could be a problem if the wage bill isn't sorted.
Oliver Glasner is likely to have a big say on the current squad, and he might be able to address some of Borson's concerns before the 2026-27 season kicks off.
Nottingham Forest's amortisation to wages 'not a good ratio'
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the finance expert raised some red flags at the City Ground, ones that need desperately addressing behind the scenes.
"The general issue going forward, once they obviously have the benefit of the players there," he explained.
"But their general issue is that they've got a wage bill now that's very, very high relative to their turnover. So for last year, they probably did about £240m turnover in the total wage bill.
"So, a different wage bill to the one that's used by SCR and the UEFA and the Premier League test is about £210m.
"They've got about £90m of player amortisation. So, it's player amortisation and wages of £300m against revenue of £240m. That's not a good ratio and they will have to deal with it.
"If you can sell players for big profits and the squad's good... And they probably underperformed last season, but they probably have other players they could sell if they wanted to."
Who could Oliver Glasner sell this summer?
While finances are hardly a problem for Forest are cashing in on Anderson, the wages clearly remain an issue heading into the new season.
Morgan Gibbs-White, Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo are amongst the Reds' highest earners, and Glasner is not going to want to lose any of them.
However, Taiwo Awoniyi, Nicolo Savona and Arnaud Kalimuendo could all help free up funds, especially with clubs already targeting the trio.
With no European football next term, having such a big squad won't be as essential as it was in 2025-26, meaning that Glasner can afford to trim some of the excess.