The Nottingham Forest loan players list is longer than it has been for some time. When the summer window slammed shut at 11pm on 1 September 2026, Forest had spent a reported £101m on five first-team signings – and shipped out a whole shelf of squad members on temporary deals, most of them in the final 48 hours. Here is every Red currently on loan for 2026/27, where they have gone, and what the club are hoping each move achieves.
Nottingham Forest loan players 2026/27: the full list
- Morato – West Ham United (season-long, option to buy)
- Omari Hutchinson – AC Milan (season-long, reported €40m option)
- Zach Abbott – Southampton (season-long, after signing a new Forest deal to 2030)
- Dilane Bakwa – Lille (Ligue 1)
- Eric da Silva Moreira – Excelsior (Eredivisie)
- Josh Powell – Northampton Town (League One)
- Gustavo Sa – Famalicao (signed by Forest, then loaned straight back)
- Cuiabano – out on loan, still Forest-registered
All of them remain Forest players. None of these are permanent sales, and every one of them can be recalled or reassessed depending on the wording of the individual agreement. That distinction matters, because it means Oliver Glasner has a genuine second squad developing away from the City Ground.
Morato to West Ham United
The most eye-catching of the deadline-day exits. The Brazilian centre-back, a Forest player since 2021, joined West Ham on a season-long loan with an option to buy attached, having been linked with Roma earlier in the window.
Morato’s route to minutes had narrowed considerably. The arrival of Ousmane Diomande from Sporting CP for a reported £34m, on top of Nikola Milenkovic, Murillo and Jair Cunha, left Glasner with more senior centre-halves than a back three can accommodate. A season in the Premier League with a club who will play him is a sensible outcome for everyone – and the option to buy tells you Forest are relaxed either way. The full story of the move is here.
Omari Hutchinson to AC Milan
The one that raised eyebrows. Hutchinson only arrived at Forest in 2025, but a season-long loan to San Siro – with a reported €40m option to buy – is a serious piece of business for a 22-year-old attacker who had not yet nailed down a starting role under Glasner.
Forest’s front line is crowded: Dan Ndoye, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Morgan Gibbs-White, James McAtee and new club-record signing Liam Delap are all competing for the same handful of shirts. Italy offers Hutchinson regular football at a big club, and Forest a potentially enormous fee if it goes well. The background to how the deal came together is worth a read.
Zach Abbott to Southampton
The purest development loan of the lot, and arguably the most important. Abbott signed a new contract at Forest running to 2030 before heading to Southampton for the season – the club’s way of saying that the academy defender is very much part of the long-term plan rather than surplus.
The Championship is a hard, physical education for a young centre-back, and a full campaign of it is worth more than a season of cup appearances and bench-warming in the Premier League. Here is what his new deal and loan actually mean.
Dilane Bakwa, Eric da Silva Moreira and the rest
Winger Bakwa has gone to Lille after a summer in which Hull City were also credited with an interest – Ligue 1 is familiar territory for him and a straightforward place to rebuild rhythm. Da Silva Moreira, the young Germany-born winger, has joined Excelsior in the Eredivisie, another league with a long record of trusting 20-year-olds with real minutes.
Josh Powell dropped into League One with Northampton Town, and Gustavo Sa, signed from Famalicao during the window, was immediately loaned back to the Portuguese club for the season. Cuiabano also remains out on loan and registered to Forest. Every one of these moves is listed on the club's official website.
Why Forest sent so many out
Squad maths, mostly. Premier League rules cap a 25-man senior squad, and Forest spent the summer adding to it: Xaver Schlager arrived free from RB Leipzig, Diomande for a reported £34m, Steven Benda as back-up goalkeeper, Delap from Chelsea for a club-record reported £50m, and Daniel Munoz from Crystal Palace for a reported £22m on 31 August, following Glasner from Selhurst Park.
Something had to give. Glasner had said publicly before deadline day that the squad needed to shrink, and the loan market did the shrinking without Forest losing control of a single asset, as the Nottingham Post's deadline-day coverage set out. Set against a summer of permanent departures – Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for a reported £116m, Taiwo Awoniyi to Coventry City, David Carmo and Jota Silva to Olympiacos, Omar Richards to Aris – the loans look like the deliberately reversible half of the plan. You can review every in and out of the window here.
What it means for Glasner’s XI
Practically, it means Morato, Abbott, Hutchinson and Bakwa are not options this season. Anyone building a predicted line-up should leave them out entirely until January at the earliest.
What is left is leaner and, on paper, stronger: Matz Sels and John Victor in goal; Milenkovic, Murillo, Cunha and Diomande as the centre-back group; Neco Williams, Ola Aina, Luca Netz, Nicolo Savona and Munoz for the wing-back slots; Ibrahim Sangare, Nicolas Dominguez, Schlager, Ryan Yates and McAtee in midfield; Gibbs-White, Ndoye, Hudson-Odoi, Delap, Chris Wood, Igor Jesus and Arnaud Kalimuendo in the forward areas. Our strongest post-window XI is here.
The Reds are still chasing a first win of 2026/27 after two home defeats to Leeds United and a 2-2 draw at Liverpool in which Ndoye and Gibbs-White scored. Tottenham Hotspur visit the City Ground on Saturday at 3pm.
When can Forest recall a loan player?
It depends on the deal. Season-long Premier League loans typically run to the end of the campaign without a recall clause unless one is specifically negotiated; domestic loans below the top flight more often carry a January recall option. Forest have not published the individual terms for any of these moves, and until they do, the honest answer is that only the club and the player’s representatives know exactly what has been agreed.
What is not in doubt is the intent. Four of these eight are 22 or under. Forest are not clearing out a squad – they are parking one, and expecting several of them back.
