Nottingham Forest Pursue Gjivairo Read Amid Liverpool's Hesitation

Nottingham Forest have made their move. Liverpool are still watching.

Forest have seen a €17.5m (£14.9m) offer for Feyenoord right-back Gjivairo Read rejected, with Fabrizio Romano confirming the bid and the knock-back on X. It is an opening gambit, nothing more, from a club that has grown increasingly bold in the market.

The response from Rotterdam was clear: not enough.

Reports in the Netherlands suggest the conversation truly starts at around €25m (£21.3m). Voetbal International’s Martijn Krabbendam, via Sport Witness, has indicated that Feyenoord would be ready to negotiate at that level, not just with Forest but with any serious suitor.

And there are plenty of eyes on Read.

The 20-year-old has long been admired at Liverpool, who are wrestling with their own right-back puzzle. Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong give Andoni Iraola options on paper, but both come with durability concerns that make the picture far less straightforward than a simple depth chart suggests.

For Forest, the situation is simpler. They want a starting right-back with upside. They have identified Read and put money on the table. Rejection or not, Romano’s line that Forest are “expected to return to the table soon” tells you all you need to know about their intent. This is not a token bid.

For Liverpool, the question is more uncomfortable: why are they still on the sidelines?

In a market where elite full-backs can push towards eye-watering fees, a potential deal around €25m for a 20-year-old with top-flight experience looks, at the very least, competitive. Read already has 54 senior appearances for Feyenoord, a significant body of work for a player his age, and has attracted interest from heavyweights such as Manchester City and Bayern Munich.

That kind of company usually sharpens decision-making.

Liverpool’s hesitation may come down to timing and evaluation. Iraola is about to see Bradley and Frimpong up close in pre-season, with preparations set to begin around July 13. A new coach, a new system, and two players who can both operate on the right. It is understandable if he wants to judge them in his own framework before pushing for reinforcements.

He may even feel, on talent alone, that the position is covered.

The problem lies in trust over a 50-game season. Both Bradley and Frimpong have had serious issues staying fit, and Liverpool know too well what happens when key positions become patchwork operations. You can survive a month like that. You do not build a title challenge on it.

Brentford’s Michael Kayode, once a plausible alternative, has already taken himself off the market by signing a long-term deal. One avenue has closed. Read, for now, remains open.

His own fitness record is not spotless. A hamstring injury in 2025/26 raised eyebrows, but at 19, with a body still developing, it is hardly a red flag on its own. Clubs will look more closely at patterns than at a single setback, and Read’s volume of minutes at Feyenoord suggests a player trusted to carry responsibility, not one constantly on the treatment table.

So Forest push. Feyenoord wait for the next number. And Liverpool hover in the background, weighing risk against opportunity.

At some point, that balance tips. Either Richard Hughes decides the internal options are enough and Liverpool ride into the new season with Bradley and Frimpong as a fragile partnership at right-back, or he steps into a market where a young, highly regarded full-back is available for what, in this era, qualifies as a manageable fee.

Forest are already testing how serious the competition really is.

If they go back in and hit that €25m mark, and if Feyenoord open the door as expected, the question for Liverpool will be brutally simple: do they let a Premier League rival take a player many in Europe view as one of the next standout right-backs, or do they finally stop watching and join the fight?