Nottingham Forest have signed midfielder, Jonjo Shelvey from Newcastle United for undisclosed fee.
Shelvey had six months left on his contract at Newcastle but a 12-month contract extension looked unlikely, after the 30 year-old made just five appearances this season – of which his last outing came in a 1-0 Fourth Round win over Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup.
Across those five appearances in this campaign, Shelvey started just one game – against Crystal Palace in Third Round of Carabao Cup – and has played 125 minutes in total, which has led Newcastle to agree this deal with Forest instead of losing him for free this summer.
The 30 year-old midfielder consequently leaves St James’ Park having scored 18 goals in 202 appearances in a seven-year spell, having joined from Swansea in January 2016.
Shelvey has signed a two-and-a-half year contract at Forest but is ineligible to make his debut at Old Trafford in the second leg of Forest’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester United, due to having played for Newcastle in this competition twice this season.
Speaking about his move to the City Ground, Shelvey issued the following statement: “It’s a pleasure to be here. As soon as I found out Forest were interested, it caught my eye straight away and I just couldn’t wait to get down here.
“It’s a fantastic football club that has so much history and I’m really looking forward to getting started.
“My main goal straight away is to fight for my place in the team and stay there. It’s not going to be easy because there’s a lot of competition for places, but it’s a challenge I’m really looking forward to and the competitiveness can only help the team going forward.”
Shelvey also revealed that he spoke to Newcastle manager, Eddie Howe about playing under Forest manager, Steve Cooper and his now ex-boss expressed “good words” about Cooper who Shelvey knows as “a fantastic coach” from his time at Liverpool.
Cooper has set out “high standards” which Shelvey hopes that he can match and help Forest stay in the Premier League, having often found himself in that situation with Newcastle until Howe arrived on Tyneside.
Reflecting on how he can help Forest stay up, Shelvey said: “I’ve been in this league a long time, I know what it takes to stay up and what it takes to get a good team to gel, so I’m looking forward to getting started and working with the players that are here.”
Howe meanwhile paid tribute to Shelvey for his work as a player at Newcastle, in the following statement: “Jonjo has been a loyal servant to the club for many years and I want to thank him sincerely for his efforts and commitment during my time here.
“He is a brilliant player who has given so much to the cause, and he leaves with our best wishes for the future.”
Shelvey will wear nuber 6 shirt and could make his Forest debut on Sunday 5 February as the East Midlands based club host Leeds United in a 2pm GMT kick-off, live on Sky Sports.
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