Jonathan Panzo: Rangers, Nottingham Forest stance, Birmingham interest

One Nottingham Forest player whose future looks to be uncertain as we enter the final fortnight of the summer transfer window is Jonathan Panzo.

The centre-back made the move to The City Ground from French side Dijon back in the 2022 January transfer window.

However, Panzo would make just a single appearance for Forest as they won promotion to the Premier League during the second half of the 2021/22 season.

That then saw the former England youth international loaned back to the Championship for the 2022/23 campaign, which he spent on loan with Coventry City.

Panzo made 32 appearances for the Sky Blues, scoring once and helping them reach the play-off final, where they agonisingly missed out on promotion to the Premier League thanks to a penalty shootout defeat to Luton Town.

Since then, he has once again been the subject of much speculation in the transfer market this summer, and with that in mind, we’ve taken a look at the latest news to have emerged around the defender in recent weeks, right here.

It had been reported earlier in the summer that the Scottish club were in line to complete the signing of the centre-back, who had apparently been open to a move to Ibrox, where manager Michael Beale was said to be a fan of the player.

However, that now looks unlikely to happen, with journalist Darren Witcoop reporting at the start of this month that the move to take Panzo to Rangers, appeared to have collapsed.

In the wake of the collapse of Panzo’s potential move to Rangers, it seems as though other clubs have been keen to exploit that situation by making moves of their own for the 22-year-old.

According to Witcoop, Coventry – where Panzo enjoyed his loan spell last season – Cardiff and West Brom had all shown interest in the centre back, with clubs in Europe also said to be keen on a move for the defender.

Indeed, despite that Rangers move not going ahead, Panzo is apparently still expected to move on from Forest before the window closes at the end of this month. That was further backed up by the fact that the centre-back was not included in the club’s matchday squad for their 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on the opening day of the season on Saturday afternoon.

Since that revelation of the collapse of his move to Rangers, and that interest from elsewhere, another Championship side that appear to be taking an interest in Panzo, are Birmingham City.

According to reports from Birmingham Live, the Blues have placed the centre-back on a long list of potential targets to boost their central defensive options.

It has been suggested that the Forest defender could operate as a replacement for Auston Trusty, who spent last season on loan with Birmingham from Arsenal, but has now completed a permanent move to Sheffield United.