Da Costa could head back

NUNO Da Costa is likely to return to the City Ground in the summer.

The forward has been on loan from Nottingham Forest to Royal Excel Mouscron in Belgium for the season, but they were relegated at the weekend.

Reports in Belgium claim that Mouscron do not have the cash to take up their option to sign Da Costa, who scored six goals in 28 appearances for them.

The club’s main shareholder, Gerard Lopez, has so far not offered financial guarantees for next season.

That would appear to make a return to Forest in the summer the most likely outcome.

However, the possibility of Da

Costa forcing himself into Chris Hughton’s plans appears remote. He made only 13 appearances for the Reds since arriving from Strasbourg for a fee of around £1.8m in January 2020.

Forest are gearing up for a busy transfer window, with the emphasis on revamping the forward line after a struggle for goals for this season.

“We need to demand more from individuals,” said Hughton.

“If I’m looking at this moment, this season our top goal scorer is on four goals. It’s quite obvious we need more goals in the team.

“Those goals have got to be provided by players who are in the squad - or new players that come here next season, because we know we’ll have to recruit in the summer. There will be players who come here next season who can give us something.”

Asked if he saw the Reds’ goal-shy nature as being a longerterm issue to fix, Hughton added: “Unfortunately, in this game these days, we don’t tend to talk about long-term.

“Everybody wants some success - whatever success is and they want it straight away.

“That’s the pressure we have as managers.

“Certainly, come next season, I would desperately want it to be a better season than however this season ends up.”