Nottingham Forest snap up Nigerian striker Josh Maja from Bordeaux in €4.5m deal

SUPER Eagles striker Josh Maja has completed a €4.5m move to English Championship side Nottingham Forest after the promotion-chasing club reached a deadline day deal with his French team Bordeaux.

Maja, 22, who has one Nigeria cap, had a brief loan stint with English Premier League side Fulham last season but could not prevent them getting relegated to the Championship. No stranger to playing in England, Maja began his career in the English Championship with Sunderland which he left in 2019 for Girondins de Bordeaux.

After his loan stint at Fulham, the London club did not exercise the option of buying Maja, which in turn led to Bordeaux purring him up for sale. After leaving Sunderland, Maja never really settled in Bordeaux and really had a better time with Fulham last season, where he scored three goals.

Sunderland manager Chris Hughton, is hoping that Maja will score the goals which will enable his side to gain promotion to the top-flight of English football. Nottingham Forest finished the last campaign in a disappointing 17th position, narrowly avoiding relegation, so desperately need more firepower upfront.

When Maja last featured in the English Championship, he scored once in 17 appearances for Sunderland. He is hoping to be more prolific this time around and will also be banking on a good season to boost his chances of returning to the Super Eagles squad.