Nuno Espirito Santo Focuses on Nottingham Forest’s Development, Dismisses European Ambition Talk

Nottingham Forest’s manager, Nuno Espirito Santo, expressed his conviction that the club possesses “a good platform” from which to “build something nice,” yet he declined to engage in discussions regarding a potential qualification for European competition. The Reds are scheduled to play Aston Villa this Saturday. Aston Villa is currently participating in European competition for the second season in a row, following a 13-year absence. Nuno stated, “We are creating something, we have a good platform and ambition to grow and improve.” He further added, “I really believe we are trying to build something nice together that can allow us to compete – this is what we have to look at.” Nuno, whose last involvement in a European competition was in 2021 with Tottenham in the Europa League, indicated that he is disregarding speculation about Forest’s possible return to Europe for the first time in nearly three decades. “I’m not listening to that, honestly,” he commented. “But, I don’t go too much away from my house, there’s been a lot of actions the club have been doing around Christmas time and what I see is happy people.” He conveyed his message to them: “What I tell them is ‘let’s enjoy the journey, let’s stick to our principles and see where we come from and want to go – let’s just enjoy it’.” Nuno concluded by saying, “My job is to prepare my players to compete, because if the team goes well then the club will go well and the city will be happy – this is what we want.”