Forest Tie Sangare to 2029 After the Anderson Sale

Ibrahim Sangare signed a new Nottingham Forest contract on 28 July 2026, tying the midfielder to the club until June 2029. The paperwork closed a summer in which Forest sold Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for £116 million ($153 million).

Oliver Glasner took over on 6 July and inherited a holding midfielder who had just played all four of Ivory Coast’s World Cup games.

Sangare Signed Through June 2029

The new deal is a three-year paper. It replaces the five-year contract from PSV Eindhoven he signed on 1 September 2023, a deal that had been running toward 2028, and adds a year of club control. Forest paid £30 million then. Capology now puts him on £85,000 a week on the new terms, about £4.42 million a year, with £13.26 million left on the contract through 30 June 2029.

He is 28. He wears No. 6. Chief football officer George Syrianos said Sangare plays an important role, has the respect of his teammates, and shares the club’s wish to keep moving forward. Sangare spoke in a club statement the same day.

It’s a good moment for me to thank the fans. Last season wasn’t always easy, but they were always with us and I have always felt their support. It’s been three years here and it has become a family for me. I’m really looking forward to working with the new coach.

Ibrahim Sangare, Nottingham Forest midfielder, club statement

The club posted him speaking on the signing the same afternoon.

Within a day the extension was dressing-room business rather than a crisis. Callum Hudson-Odoi was already needling him about the new wages over dinner. The live argument is colder than that joke. The paper is faith. Sangare still has to hold a midfield that just sold its most expensive piece.

TWO MIDFIELD CALLS, SUMMER 2026

City put the Anderson fee at a flat £116 million, a club record for them and a vast profit on the £35 million Forest paid Newcastle in 2024. Some voices around the deal floated a higher package. The figure the clubs settled on was the fixed one.

The £116 Million Hole in Forest’s Midfield

Anderson’s sale was agreed on 25 June, while he was with England at the World Cup and Sangare was still with Ivory Coast. Forest had already rejected an earlier nine-figure City bid and had been holding out for more than the British-record money Liverpool paid for Alexander Isak. They took the guaranteed fee instead.

That left the City Ground short of the midfielder who had grown into England’s engine and Forest’s most valuable asset. Anderson made 88 appearances and scored four goals in two seasons after arriving from Newcastle. Owner Evangelos Marinakis, having banked that sale, did not want another first-team regular peeled away behind him.

Sangare was the one they could still pin down. In 2025-26 he started 25 of 28 Premier League games, scored twice, added two assists, and logged 2,075 league minutes. Across all competitions he played 43 matches, including 14 in the Europa League run that ended in the semi-finals against Aston Villa. A small injury kept him out of that semi-final. Forest finished 16th, five points above the drop, after a season that burned through four head coaches: Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche, and Vitor Pereira.

Morgan Gibbs-White scored 15 Premier League goals in that scramble. Sangare’s job was uglier and less famous. He won duels, moved the ball, and stayed on the pitch. By 22 August 2026 he had 78 Forest appearances and two goals in all competitions, both of those goals coming in the Premier League last season.

Four World Cup Nights and One Assist

Forest had named in Ivory Coast’s World Cup squad a player who already had 41 appearances that club season and had scored his first two Forest goals against Leeds United and Tottenham. The tournament is where the contract clock actually sat. He appeared in every Ivory Coast match and finished with 268 minutes and one World Cup assist.

SANGARE AT THE WORLD CUP

1. 14 June 2026: Comes off the bench for 14 minutes in a 1-0 group win over Ecuador.
2. 20 June 2026: Starts at defensive midfield against Germany in Toronto, plays 74 minutes, and is withdrawn in a 2-1 defeat.
3. 25 June 2026: Starts and plays 90 minutes in a 2-0 win over Curaçao, the same date City agree the Anderson fee.
4. 30 June 2026: Starts and completes 90 minutes in a 1-2 round-of-32 loss to Norway in Arlington.

The assist was the pass that settled the Curaçao game. Nicolas Pépé had already scored early. In the 64th minute Sangare slipped him in, and Opta logged Pépé’s second goal against Curaçao as the finish that put Ivory Coast into knockout football for the first time. Sofascore had Sangare on a 7.7 rating that night, with 98 passes and 110 touches. Against Norway he played the full match, completed 47 of 54 passes, and watched Erling Haaland win it in the 86th minute after Amad Diallo had equalised.

Ivory Coast had never before won two matches in a single World Cup. They beat Ecuador and Curaçao, lost to Germany and Norway, and went home. Sangare started three of the four. He left the United States as Ivory Coast’s third captain, with 58 caps and 11 international goals, and with a Forest contract still unsigned.

Glasner Gets the Midfielder Who Stayed

Pereira had taken Forest to safety and that Europa League semi-final on an 18-month contract signed in February. The club triggered a June break clause. Pereira said the decision came as a “complete surprise” and without warning. On 6 July, Forest appointed Glasner, the Austrian who had just left Crystal Palace after an FA Cup, a Community Shield, and a Conference League title. Marinakis called him a winner. Glasner became the club’s fifth head coach in less than a year.

The Sangare talks, which had been framed in June as a reward under Pereira, landed as Glasner’s first retention. Forest also brought in Xaver Schlager on a free transfer from RB Leipzig, a midfielder who had already worked with Glasner at Wolfsburg. The pair are not copies of each other. Schlager is a Glasner known quantity. Sangare is the physical holder they refused to put on the block after Anderson left.

WHAT GLASNER KEPT IN THE MIDDLE

• The holder: Sangare, 28, now signed through June 2029 after 25 Premier League starts last season.
• The free signing: Schlager, in from Leipzig with no fee, and with a past under this head coach.
• The creator who left: Anderson, 23, sold to City for £116 million while both men were at the World Cup.
• The rest of the core: Club figures said they had no wish to sell Morgan Gibbs-White, Murillo, or Neco Williams behind that sale.

Glasner told the club he wanted a squad of about 22 to 24 senior players. By early September he was even turning down last-minute additions on deadline day. The Sangare contract fits that smaller, stuck-together group. It does not replace Anderson’s output. It stops the next sale in the same line.

Why the Talks Waited Until July

Forest sat on the paperwork until Sangare finished Ivory Coast’s World Cup so he could play without a contract circus in his ear. By the time he came back, Pereira was gone, Anderson was a City player, and the extension had become Glasner’s first retention win rather than a thank-you from the coach who had just kept them up.

Advanced talks were already public by 13 July, a week after Glasner walked in. The signing itself came on 28 July, with pre-season under the new staff already under way. A June plan to “reward” him survived a manager sacking and a record sale, and that is why the date on the paper matters more than the adjective on the press release.

Had they opened talks in May, the deal would have been Pereira’s. Had they sold Sangare beside Anderson, Glasner would have started with a stripped middle and a pile of cash. They chose the duller path: take the City money for the 23-year-old, then keep the 28-year-old who had finally put together a full Forest season.

Forest Refused to Flip a £30 Million Bet

Sangare was supposed to be a statement signing on deadline day in 2023. Senior figures at the club thought the PSV holder could change how Forest played through the middle. The first year was thin, 17 Premier League appearances and no goals. The second was worse on volume, 13 league games, after a hamstring problem ate the calendar. Managers kept saying they rated him anyway. Steve Cooper had wanted a player who could slow a match down. The club had spent 18 months chasing him and a year trying to get the deal done.

Last season was the first time the bet looked like the player they bought. Two league goals, two assists, 25 starts, and a European run. Then the World Cup. Then the new coach. Then the new paper. As of 22 August he had already played one 90-minute Premier League match in 2026-27, with the contract in the drawer and Anderson gone.

SANGARE ON TRENTSIDE

• Arrival: 1 September 2023 from PSV, £30 million, five-year deal, shirt No. 6.
• First two seasons: 17 then 13 Premier League appearances, no league goals, hamstring trouble in 2024-25.
• 2025-26: 28 league games, 25 starts, two goals, two assists, 14 Europa League matches, 43 games in all.
• New paper: Signed 28 July 2026, through 30 June 2029, about £85,000 a week.

The extension does not decide whether Sangare can fill the hole Anderson left. It only decides that Forest will find out with him still in the building. Glasner has a holder on long-term money, a free midfield signing who already knows his work, and a record fee in the accounts. Sangare has a family line in a club statement and a season in which the easy version of his job no longer exists.

Frequently Asked Questions

When Does Ibrahim Sangare’s Forest Contract Expire?

Capology lists 30 June 2029 as the end date, after which he would be a free agent. The first Forest deal, signed on 1 September 2023, had been due to run to 2028, so the fresh paper added one extra year of club control rather than a long new era.

What Shirt Number Does Sangare Wear for Nottingham Forest?

He wears No. 6, the number Forest handed him on the night they announced the PSV transfer. He stands 1.91 m and was born in Koumassi, Ivory Coast, on 2 December 1997.

Which Clubs Did Sangare Play for Before Forest?

He came through AS Denguélé, then played for Toulouse in France before PSV Eindhoven in 2020. Forest’s own signing notes credit him with 140 appearances and 15 goals for PSV, plus three Johan Cruyff Shields and two KNVB Cups.

How Many Caps Does Sangare Have for Ivory Coast?

He had 58 caps and 11 international goals by the time the Forest deal was announced, and he is listed as Ivory Coast’s third captain. When the club confirmed his World Cup call-up in May he was on 53 caps, with the tournament taking that tally up.

Did Ivory Coast Reach the Knockout Rounds at the 2026 World Cup?

Yes. It was the first time Ivory Coast played knockout football at a World Cup, and the first time they won two matches in a single tournament, beating Ecuador 1-0 and Curaçao 2-0 before losing 2-1 to Germany and 2-1 to Norway.