Chris Wood Hails 'Fantastic' Potential Liam Delap Transfer

Nottingham Forest striker has hailed the potential arrival of Liam Delap, hailing it a "fantastic" transfer for the club. News broke on Tuesday evening, shortly before the Reds' Carabao Cup second-round tie against Leeds United, that Forest were on the verge of signing Delap in a £50 million deal from Chelsea, including add-ons. It would represent a club-record deal for Forest, eclipsing the £37.5 million the club paid for Delap's former teammate, Omari Hutchinson, when he joined from Ipswich Town last summer. Not long after this news emerge, Forest were dumped out of the Carabao Cup by Leeds, after being handed their second successive defeat by Daniel Farke's side, an uninspiring 2-0 loss, just days after a 1-0 defeat in their Premier League meeting at the City Ground. The result, and accompanying performance, caused a clamour for reinforcements on social media, and Delap's arrival could not be coming at a more important time. As well as Igor Jesus, who can also operate as a '10', Delap will compete with Wood for the starting striker role in Oliver Glasner's 3-4-2-1 set-up. Speaking to ITV after the match, the New Zealand international showed no signs of fearing for his place, citing healthy competition as he lauded the club's “We’re a very ambitious club," Wood insisted, "and that shows it by what we’re spending on players like that, good players.  “So it would be fantastic to have Liam through the door, and hopefully it gets all signed and sealed and through the door. “It’ll be great for our team competition, healthy competition which is fantastic, and we’ll all become better players for it.” Despite his optimism about Delap's impending arrival, the veteran striker was not blind to the Reds' current struggles on the pitch. He insisted that there can be no hiding away from the club's poor start to the season, but reemphasised that hard work, and ultimately patience, are needed to turn things around so soon into Glasner's tenure. “[The first two games) have told us that we’re not exactly where we want to be," he admitted, "but we need to keep working hard, on the training pitch and in games. “Games come thick and fast and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve just got to believe in what we’re trying to do. “Don’t shy away from it now, we need to take it by the scruff of the neck and we’ll got forward.” Forest now embark on a difficult run of Premier League games, starting with a trip to face Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, before hosting Tottenham Hotspur and then travelling to take on Aston Villa.