Ousmane Diomande is a Red! Meet Nottingham Forest’s new defender;
Nottingham Forest have completed a deal for 22-year-old defender, Ousmane Diomande. The defender shocks football news due to this deal collapsing just a few days prior.
Forest owner, Evangelos Marinakis' son, Miltidas Marinakis who is involved in the football operations at Forest was said to have had a "major disagreement" with Diomande' agent but his agent later apologied for this behaviour.
The Ivory Coast international arrives at the City Ground with more than 150 senior first-team appearances in his career and recently featured in the 2026 World Cup with the Ivory Coast national football team.
The 22-year-old will wear the number two shirt for his spell at Forest.
An overview of Diomande’ Career & Present;
Diomande joins Nottingham Forest with a wide variety of experience having played for OS Abobo & Midtjylland’s academies. Midtjylland being a familiar face to Forest after facing them twice in the 2025/2026 football season..more specifically in the UEFA Europa League
Forest faced Midtjlland three times in the competition, only winning once in the second leg of the Round of 16, but winning 3-0 on aggregate score across the two legs.
Outside of the RO16, Forest faced the Danish side back in October 2025, losing 3-2 under former manager, Ange Postecoglue who was dismissed after only thirty-nine days at the City Ground.
Former Forest boss Ange Postecoglou. Dismissed by Forest after thirty-nine days (Photo by Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
The defender then was promoted to first-team football with Midtjylland but never made a first-team appearance as he was sent out on loan to Mafra, a third tier Portuguese side.
Diomande then transferred to Sporting CP (Also known as Sporting Lisbon) for a fee of 7.5 million Euros which had a potential to rise to 12.5 million Euros with add-ons. The defender went on to play eighty-seven games with the Portuguese side and scoring five goals.
Diomande had a release clause of £68.2m but Forest landed a deal at a much lower estimated cost of £34m. Previously, Forest boss, Oliver Glasner attempted to strengthen his Crystal Palace side by signing Diomande but nothing came to fruition in the end.
The defender joins the club alongside new signing Xaver Schlager who arrived at Forest in July as a free agent. The Austrian midfielder recently represented RB Leipzig as well as representing the Austrian National Team in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Who joins alongside Diomande in the team?
The 22-year-old defender will have to fight for his place in the team with a wide variety of defender partnerships available such as; Morato, Murillo, Milenkovic and many more options!
With Diomande still being a young centre-back, he has the ability to flex into the team with what is to be expected quite-high fitness levels but enough experience to his name to prove he has a place in the team, often being described as a 'high-prospect'.
When could we see Diomande in action?
A real possibility of seeing Ousmane Diomande at the City Ground could come at either of the two home pre-season fixtures, against Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen or Ligue 1 side Stade Brestois 29.
However, in a competitive fixture, the defender could be set for a debut against Leeds United in Forest' opening game in the 2026/2027 Premier League season.
