Fabrizio Romano confirms final destination as Nottingham Forest greenlight striker’s exit just in time

Emmanuel Dennis is leaving Nottingham Forest on deadline day for the Turkish Super Lig to join Istanbul Basaksehir, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Despite only joining Forest last year, Dennis has become surplus to requirements at the City Ground. With the English transfer window closed, a move to Turkey has since become a viable option for the striker.

Reports suggested Trabzonspor could be suitors, before Adana Demirspor submitted an offer to take him to the Super Lig, but Istanbul Basaksehir have joined the race in recent days as well. And as Romano is now confirming, it is they who have won the race to sign him.

Romano has given the ‘here we go’ treatment to Istanbul Basaksehir’s swoop for Dennis, clarifying it will be a loan deal without an option to buy, bur that they will be covering his salary.

A medical has been booked, so the Nigeria international will be travelling to Istanbul today in order to finalise the move, which comes after he was left out of Forest’s squad list for the 2023-24 Premier League season.

By moving from Forest to Turkey, Dennis will be following in the footsteps of Jonjo Shelvey, who has joined Caykur Rizespor.

The Basaksehir squad Dennis will be joining also includes former AC Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek and English defender Jerome Opoku, a product of the Fulham academy.

Basaksehir finished fifth in the Super Lig last season but have lost all three of their league games so far this term and actually haven’t even scored a goal in any of them, which emphasises why they may have felt the need to add another striker.

Dennis, 25, will be leaving Forest after just two goals for the club from 25 appearances. He has previously played for Zorya Luhansk, Club Brugge, Koln and Watford, so will now get the chance to test himself in Turkey for the first time in his career.

Once his loan spell ends, there will still be two years remaining on his contract back in Nottingham.

READ MORE: Ranking the Premier League clubs by their transfer net spend in 2023; Forest 10th