Nottingham Forest's Matz Sels on his second Premier League chance
2025-01-25
Category: sports

A year ago Matz Sels was on the verge of a low-key move to Nottingham Forest.The 2024 January transfer window was overshadowed by the threat of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), meaning spending and excitement plummeted.There were only 17 permanent deals done by Premier League clubs.Yet Sels' move still did not make BBC Sport's round-up of the 'most interesting' transfers of an underwhelming window. He just looked like yet another player joining a club that seemed to be in a constant cycle of chaos.One season at Newcastle United nine years ago was his only previous experience in England but Forest spent Â£5m to make Belgium goalkeeper their third No.1 of the season. Sels accepted the gamble of leaving the relative comfort of life at Strasbourg in Ligue 1 to parachute into Forest's relegation battle. His debut in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on 4 February left his new side third bottom of the league, three points from safety. The threat of a points deduction over PSR was also looming over Forest and they were indeed docked four points a month after he joined.It was not an optimistic scenario, but fast forward a year and the gamble has patently paid off.Forest go back to Vitality Stadium on Saturday in third place, just six points behind leaders Liverpool and with Sels leading the race for the Golden Glove with nine clean sheets. He is part of the third-best defence in the division and has been a huge influence in what has been an incredible turnaround. "I knew when I signed they were searching for a goalkeeper and I knew it was to keep the team in the league," he tells BBC Sport. "When you take a goalkeeper in January, most of the time it's when the team is in difficulties."To play in the Premier League, that's why I wanted to come back - to live the dream a little bit - and I'm really happy with this season. "Even when I came last season it was not so easy but I knew the situation when I signed. You cannot see too far forward, but you try to see if it was a good step or not."Nobody thought it would be like we are doing now, but there is a lot of quality in the squad - I saw it when I signed."Sels' impact in the year since joining is in contrast to his 2016 move to St James' Park, having been a champion in Belgium with Gent.He made just 14 appearances for the Magpies, nine in the Championship, and when Rafael Benitez's side returned to the Premier League in 2017 he joined Anderlecht on loan."When I came to Newcastle it was not so easy. It was my first time abroad and I was 22 years old - I don't want to say I was a child but I was still really young," he says. "Sometimes it works out, sometimes it does not work so well. Sometimes a bad experience makes you stronger. Everyone in life has difficult periods - it's how you cope with it. I'm here now and I'm really happy."
Sels is also content off the pitch, with his wife and two young children settled in England."My transfer was on the deadline day and you need to turn over your whole life," he adds."We were in France for five-and-a-half years - my eldest child was in the nursery and starting to speak some French. Now my eldest's English is better than mine!"If the family doesn't feel well, at one certain moment it's going to turn because the family will want to move back to Belgium or somewhere else. "It's an important thing that the family are feeling well so you can play well on the pitch."Sels, who won the French League Cup in five-and-a-half seasons with Strasbourg, has certainly been doing that.With quality centre-backs Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic in front of him, Forest have conceded just 22 goals in 22 games - a tally bettered only by Liverpool and Arsenal.  Sels' save percentage is 74.4 - the best of any goalkeeper who has played more than seven games in the Premier League this season. His excellence has been a key part of the turnaround by a Forest side that only survived, officially, on the final day of the last campaign.The only points they have dropped in their last eight games came in a 1-1 draw against leaders Liverpool when he was outstanding, including brilliant saves to deny Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah. Manager Nuno Espirito Santo has so far refused to entertain any questions about qualifying for the Champions League - or the recent talk of a title challenge. Yet Sels concedes the perspective has changed as Forest show no signs of faltering. "We cannot say any anymore it's about staying in the league," he concedes."We try to do everything to aim as high as possible but if you want to be there at the top you need to keep teams like Manchester City, Aston Villa and Newcastle behind you. "It's still too early [to talk about the Champions League]. We cannot win all the games, we are going to concede goals, but it's how we cope with that."To speak about the title is out of the context. We are trying to achieve something great but we will see at the end of the season."