Patrick Bamford has explained that Nottingham Forest could have signed Britt Assombalonga for free when he was a teenager. The Reds academy graduate has been telling the story during a recent interview.

Bamford was sold by Forest before he made his mark on the first team. During a time of financial panic, the striker was sold to Chelsea for just £2 million and he’s enjoyed a decent career.

Now at Leeds, Bamford is trying to get the Whites back into the Premier League following last season’s relegation. He will hope to line up for the club in the top flight once again during the 2024/25 campaign.

It’s such a shame that Bamford never got a first team chance. Ultimately the club had to sell him at that period, with administration very much hanging over Forest.

Bamford tells intriguing Assombalonga story

Bamford has gone onto have a very decent career. His time at Leeds has seen him win promotion, score goals in the Premier League and then suffer Premier League.

The striker met Assombalonga several years before he actually signed for Forest. Now, he’s been reciting the story and it made for interesting listening on his podcast.He told the My Mate’s a Footballer Podcast: “I have quite a funny story about that. So when I was 14 or 15 and at Forest, we had a lad come on trial from London. Every now and again you’d get lads who lived a little bit further than like an hour and a half away and they come on trial

“For six weeks this guy was in the digs and I became good friends with him and he was called Britt. Then after six weeks, Forest said no and they didn’t offer him anything. That was it and I didn’t hear from him again.

“Fast forward a few years later and I was playing on loan for MK Dons and we played against Peterborough and they had this guy up front called Assombalonga. I knew about the name and he’d scored quite a few goals and I knew he was called Britt but I never twigged it was him!

“After the game, he’s come over and shook my hand and said, ‘You don’t remember me do you’, and as soon as he said that something clicked in my brain and I was like, ‘No way’.

“From that moment on we’ve been really good mates and he actually ended up signing for Forest for like £5 million after being turned down a few years earlier.

Forest could have signed Assombalonga for nothing

It’s sometimes funny how things pan out in football. Assombalonga cost Forest £5 million but he could have been added to the academy ranks for nothing.

That said, who knows how his career would have progressed had Forest taken a chance on him earlier. He forged a career for himself with Watford and Peterborough before heading to Forest.

His time at the City Ground was largely successful. He scored 30 goals in 69 appearances for the club and would have grabbed lots more were it not for a serious knee injury.

Assombalonga now plays in Turkey for Antalyaspor and he’s bagged five goals this season. He joined them in the summer after leaving Watford where he had a short spell last season.

It’s quite fascinating to hear Bamford’s story. Assomablonga cost Forest £5 million but it could have all been so different had they taken him sooner as a teenager.