Why Lucca suits Nottingham Forest over Napoli

Lorenzo Lucca has been subject of a bid from Nottingham Forest in the January transfer window, which could bring more consistent game time than he has experienced so far at Napoli. Here is why a transfer to the Premier League could be the right move for the Italy international. 

According to Monday’s reports, Nottingham Forest have submitted an offer to sign Lucca on loan for a fee of €1m with a future option to buy for an additional €35m. It is now up to the player to decide his next steps. There have also been reports of interest from Pisa, who will only be able to offer a loan deal rather than a permanent. 

Napoli originally signed Lucca from Udinese during the summer transfer window, again, on loan with an option to buy in a deal reported to be worth €35m all in. 

He has struggled to cement himself as a first-team regular under Antonio Conte since then, though. 

That is largely due to the form of Rasmus Hojlund, who has 12 goal involvements from 25 games across all competitions so far this season. Furthermore, once Romelu Lukaku returns from his long-term injury, opportunities for Lucca are expected to become even more infrequent. 

That is not ideal for Lucca heading into the 2026 World Cup, assuming that Italy qualify. 

A move to Nottingham Forest, however, could be the right fit at the right time for the 25-year-old. 

Lucca’s height, standing at 2.01m tall, is an obvious trait and one that would surely appeal to Forest head coach Sean Dyche, who has often found success playing with tall, strong and physically dominant centre-forwards. 

Signing Lucca would also open Dyche up to the possibility of playing with a two-man strike partnership as he almost always did during his 10 years with Burnley. A two-man strike partnership was also used by Gennaro Gattuso during Italy’s most recent international fixture, but is a system rarely used by Conte at Napoli, who tends to go for a 4-3-3 and more recently a 3-4-3. 

Lucca would also be familiar with a number of the players in Nottingham Forest’s squad who have previously played in Serie A: Among them are Nicolo Savona and Douglas Luiz, signed from Juventus, Nicolas Dominguez and Dan Ndoye, signed from Bologna, and Nikola Milenkovic, formerly of Fiorentina.