The Nikola Milenković Nottingham Forest transfer barely registered as a headline when it went through in the summer of 2024. A 26-year-old centre-back from a mid-table Serie A side, a reported fee of around £12m, no fanfare. Two seasons on, he is the player the Reds’ defence is organised around — and one of the best-value signings the club has made in the Premier League era. This is the guide to Forest’s No.31: where he came from, what he gives Oliver Glasner, and where he fits now the window has shut.
Who is Nikola Milenković?
Nikola Milenković was born in Belgrade on 26 October 1997 and is 28. He was made at Partizan, one of the two giants of Serbian football, breaking into the senior side as a teenager and winning domestic honours before Europe came calling.
Fiorentina signed him in the summer of 2017, and he stayed seven years. That is a long time in modern football, and it made him one of the most experienced defenders in Serie A by the time he left — well over 200 appearances in one of the most tactically demanding leagues there is, playing in a back four and a back three under a succession of coaches. He also went deep in Europe with them, reaching two Europa Conference League finals in 2023 and 2024, losing both.
Internationally he is a fixture for Serbia, with more than 50 caps, and featured at both the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024. At 6ft 5in he is one of the tallest players in the Premier League, and that matters more than it sounds — but we will come back to it.
Why the Nikola Milenković Nottingham Forest deal was such good business
Forest paid a reported figure in the region of £12m in July 2024. For context, that is roughly what the club paid for Murillo six months earlier, and around a quarter of what a comparable centre-back with 200 Serie A games behind him would cost today. Look at the club’s record signings list and he does not appear anywhere near it.
He was in the side immediately and stayed there, an almost permanent fixture through a season that ended with Forest finishing seventh in the Premier League — the club’s best top-flight finish in decades. Murillo took most of the headlines and deserved them, but the partnership worked because the two of them are opposites. Murillo is the left-footed, quick, aggressive one who steps out to intercept. Milenković is the one who stays, holds the line, wins the header and reads where the ball is going to drop.
What he actually does on a pitch
Three things, primarily.
The first is aerial dominance. Forest defend a lot of crosses and a lot of set pieces — that has been true under every coach they have had in the Premier League — and Milenković is the reason it rarely costs them. He attacks the ball rather than waiting for it, and against direct sides he is the difference between a nervy afternoon and a comfortable one.
The second is the other end of the same skill. He is a genuine weapon at attacking corners and free-kicks, and a meaningful chunk of his goal contribution for both Fiorentina and Forest has come from his head. For a side that has often had to grind out 1-0s, a centre-back who scores is not a luxury.
The third is the least glamorous and probably the most valuable: positional discipline. He does not get dragged out of shape, he does not dive into challenges he cannot win, and he covers for a partner who by design takes risks. Murillo can play as high and as aggressively as he does partly because he knows what is behind him.
The trade-off is pace over 40 yards. Milenković is not slow, but he is not built to be turned and asked to chase, which is why the recovery speed alongside him is not optional. Get the balance of that partnership wrong and it shows quickly.
Where he fits under Glasner in 2026/27
Glasner’s preferred structure is a 3-4-2-1, and a back three is a very good place for a defender of this profile. In a three he can operate as the right-sided or central body of the unit, with less open grass to defend, a wing-back ahead of him to squeeze the touchline and a second centre-back covering the space in behind. It is close to how he was used in his best spells in Florence.
Competition has arrived, though. Forest spent a reported £34m on Ousmane Diomande from Sporting CP this summer, Jair Cunha is in the building, and Tyler Bindon is behind them — even with Morato and Zach Abbott loaned out to West Ham and Southampton respectively for the season. Centre-back is now the deepest position in the squad, and our post-window best XI reflects how tight those calls have become.
That should not worry anyone about his place. Depth in a back three means all three of Milenković, Murillo and Diomande can start in the same team, which is exactly what the recruitment looks designed for.
The transfer noise, and why it has not gone anywhere
A 28-year-old centre-back playing at this level for a fee that size will always attract interest, and Milenković has been the subject of periodic speculation since the end of his first season at the City Ground. None of it has come close to a deal, and the summer window closed on 1 September with him still a Forest player — the next one does not open until January.
The club’s position on its best defenders is well established by now. Forest will sell at a number that makes sense, as the Elliot Anderson deal showed, but they have shown no appetite whatsoever for being talked into a discount on a player who is central to how the team functions. The Nottingham Post’s review of the window made the same point about the business Forest did not do: keeping the spine of the side together was part of the plan, not an accident.
The season so far
It has been a difficult start. Forest lost 0-1 at home to Leeds United on the opening weekend, went out of the Carabao Cup to the same opponents three days later, and are still waiting for a first win of 2026/27 after drawing 2-2 at Liverpool on 29 August — a result that looked a good deal more like the version of this team supporters recognise.
Anfield was instructive for Milenković in particular: a game where Forest had to defend crosses, second balls and long spells without possession, and got a point out of it. That is his kind of afternoon. Tottenham Hotspur visit the City Ground on Saturday 6 September, and if the Reds are to get their season going, it will start with the part of the pitch he governs.
The short version
- Full name: Nikola Milenković
- Born: 26 October 1997, Belgrade (28)
- Position: Centre-back — right side or centre of a three
- Squad number: 31
- Signed: July 2024 from Fiorentina, reported fee around £12m
- Country: Serbia (50+ caps, 2022 World Cup, Euro 2024)
For the rest of the first-team list, our full 2026/27 squad numbers guide has every shirt, and the official Forest website carries confirmed team news each matchday. In a squad that cost roughly £101m to assemble this summer, the No.31 remains the bargain nobody was talking about.
