Xaver Schlager Joins Forest as Glasner’s First Signing

Xaver Schlager has swapped Leipzig for the East Midlands, becoming Oliver Glasner’s first signing since the Austrian took charge at Nottingham Forest. The 28-year-old midfielder joins on a free transfer after his RB Leipzig contract expired, signing a two-year deal with the option of a third year attached.

Glasner walked away from Crystal Palace weeks after delivering the first major trophy in that club’s history. Forest have now cycled through five head coaches in roughly a year. Schlager is the first concrete evidence of how the new man plans to fix that.

Schlager Completes Free Transfer to Reunite With Glasner

Forest confirmed the move as their opening piece of business under Glasner, who managed Schlager at Wolfsburg before either man arrived at the City Ground. The midfielder had been a free agent since his Leipzig contract ran out at the end of June.

It is a huge honour to join Nottingham Forest. It is a very traditional club with a big history, winning two European Cups under Brian Clough.

Schlager said that in Forest’s announcement, before adding what actually pulled him to the City Ground.

“I wanted a new challenge and to join a club with good players, and I am happy to be reunited with Oliver, who I know from my time at Wolfsburg,” Schlager said. “The club has big ambitions and so do I. I want to be back in European competitions and we have a good chance. It is the best feeling to play internationally during the week, and I want to achieve that.”

George Syrianos, Forest’s chief football officer, framed the signing as a leadership addition rather than a squad filler. “He’s a leader, with years of experience playing at the highest level in Europe, and there is a strong feeling he has all the attributes to make an immediate impact on the team,” Syrianos said.

A Leipzig Career Interrupted

Schlager’s route to Nottingham ran through four different clubs. He started at Liefering, Red Bull Salzburg’s feeder side, before breaking through at Salzburg itself, where he won the Austrian Bundesliga four times. A move to Wolfsburg introduced him to Glasner, and in the summer of 2022 he joined Leipzig.

His four seasons in Leipzig were not smooth. He made 108 appearances across all competitions, scoring five goals and adding ten assists, and rose to vice-captain. Then an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury wiped out most of the 2024-25 season. He returned to reclaim the vice-captaincy last season and pushed his way back into Austria’s squad in time for the 2026 World Cup, starting all four of his country’s matches before Austria went out in the round of 32 against Spain.

That is the profile Forest are banking on: a proven leader who has already fought back from a serious injury once, arriving with 55 caps and a World Cup start behind him rather than untested potential.

Every Club Glasner Has Managed Has Won Something Fast

Schlager is not the only reunion in this move. Glasner himself is repeating a pattern that has followed him from country to country.

He guided Eintracht Frankfurt to the 2021-22 Europa League title, the club’s first major European trophy in more than four decades. He later took over at Crystal Palace after Roy Hodgson stepped down, inheriting a club that had never won a major trophy in its history.

1. 2021-22: Glasner leads Eintracht Frankfurt to the Europa League title.
2. 2025: Palace, under Glasner, win the FA Cup, the first major trophy in the club’s history, then add the Community Shield.
3. May 2026: Palace lift the UEFA Conference League trophy, a second piece of silverware inside twelve months.
4. July 2026: Glasner’s Palace contract expires. Days later, Forest name him their fifth head coach in a year, and he immediately signs Schlager as his first addition.

Two different clubs, two rebuilt trophy cabinets, both inside a similarly short window. Forest are betting the pattern holds a third time. What that timeline also shows is a coach who tends to move on not long after the silverware arrives, which is exactly the part of the pattern Forest need to break if Glasner is going to be more than a two-year fix.

Why Has Nottingham Forest Burned Through Five Coaches in a Year?

Glasner is Forest’s fifth head coach in roughly twelve months, taking over from Vitor Pereira at the City Ground. The club’s ownership has backed the appointment with what The Sun has reported as a deal worth around £13 million a year, a figure Forest have not confirmed.

That kind of turnover is unusual even by Premier League standards, and it explains why Forest moved fast once Glasner’s Palace contract lapsed. A club that has changed its coach five times in a year needs its next appointment to look decisive, and paying for a manager with two recent trophy runs on his résumé is one way to signal that.

• Confirmed: Schlager’s move is a free transfer on a two-year deal with an option for a third year, and Glasner succeeds Vitor Pereira as Forest’s fifth head coach in about a year.

• Unconfirmed: The exact value of Glasner’s Forest contract, reported at roughly £13 million a year by The Sun but not verified by the club, and whether Schlager’s deal carries any release clause.

Forest’s wage commitments have already drawn scrutiny elsewhere. A recent look at the Premier League’s highest-paid managers after this summer’s exits placed Glasner’s reported terms among the steepest in the division, a notable jump for a club that spent the previous year cycling through cheaper, shorter-term appointments.

Forest and Palace Remain Tangled Up in Europe

Glasner’s move connects two clubs that were already entwined by European politics. Sky Sports has reported that Forest and Palace were indirectly competing for the same Europa League place last season, with UEFA ultimately ruling that Forest would take the spot at Palace’s expense.

Palace responded by winning the competition they were dropped into instead, lifting the Conference League in May. Forest, holding the higher-tier place that came their way, reached the Europa League round of 16 before their run ended. Now the manager who delivered Palace’s Conference League title has left for the club that took their Europa League place a year earlier.

Palace, for their part, have already moved to replace him, turning to a successor in what amounts to a succession bet of their own. Neither club is walking away from this arrangement uninvolved.

The Rebuild Does Not Stop at One Midfielder

Schlager’s arrival is unlikely to be Forest’s last midfield move this summer. The club has already moved to secure its existing options, opening talks to keep Ibrahim Sangare tied down beyond this contract after his own World Cup, while also holding an interest in Everton’s James Garner that has reportedly put Everton’s summer transfer plans under pressure.

None of that tells Forest fans exactly how Glasner will set his midfield up. It does suggest he is building depth and leadership before anything flashier, in the same way his first signing was a trusted lieutenant rather than a marquee name.

Schlager’s own ambition is straightforward. He said he wants to play continental football in midweek again, and Forest’s page in UEFA’s 2026/27 Europa League club database already has them registered for exactly that. Whether Glasner is still in charge to see the campaign through to the end is the part of his pattern nobody at Forest can yet answer.