{"id":255123,"date":"2026-01-28T02:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T02:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255123\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T02:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T02:26:08","slug":"chris-wood-all-whites-captain-return-from-injury-remains-in-the-air-as-nottingham-forest-seek-replacement-strikers-in-transfer-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/255123\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Wood: All Whites captain return from injury remains in the air as Nottingham Forest seek replacement strikers in transfer window"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Frenchman has expressed his desire to leave Crystal Palace, who, like Forest, are fighting to stay in the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Herald, New Zealand Football said it has been in regular contact with Wood and is hopeful he will be back soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cChris is currently still in the process of recovering from his operation. We are in regular contact with him and he is in the hands of a great medical team at Nottingham Forest. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back playing in the Premier League soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris Wood has made just eight appearances for Nottingham Forest this season.<\/p>\n

Forest are currently 17th on 25 points, five points above the relegation zone, while Palace are a further three points clear, although they have just sold their captain, Marc Guehi, to Manchester City, while manager Oliver Glasner has announced he will leave at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Even though Wood is sidelined, that hasn\u2019t stopped speculation about his future at Forest, with a report from Italy suggesting Juventus are interested in signing him and \u201cwill evaluate his condition and decide whether to move forward\u201d.<\/p>\n

The 36-time Italian champions have been linked with numerous strikers during the January transfer window, and a move to Turin would seem odd as he doesn\u2019t fit their profile.<\/p>\n

If Forest were to sign Mateta or another striker, they have to be aware of the profit and sustainability rules which, if a signing is made, could lead to a departure to balance the books.<\/p>\n

Clubs in Greece and T\u00fcrkiye have also reportedly shown an interest in Wood<\/p>\n

The transfer window in England closes on February 2 at 7pm, local time.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisChris Wood has scored 45 goals in 88 appearances for the All Whites. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

With Wood sidelined for his club, he\u2019s unlikely to be involved in New Zealand\u2019s two upcoming internationals in March, when they will face Chile and Finland in Auckland,<\/a> their final fixtures before departing for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

All Whites coach Darren Bazeley is hopeful Wood will be back on the field soon, as he wants him \u201cfit for the World Cup\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that him and Nottingham Forest are doing everything they can to get him fit as quick as they can,\u201d Bazeley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [Forest] need him back playing in the Premier League and, I think for us, we want him back as soon as we can, but obviously the World Cup is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

The All Whites have been drawn in Group G for the World Cup<\/a>, their third ever and first since 2010, where they will face Iran, Egypt and Belgium. Options are currently being considered<\/a> for where their home base will be for the tournament.<\/p>\n

The lack of game time has been frustrating for Wood coming off his best season in the Premier League where he scored 20 goals in 36 appearances, to finish among the top scorers, while helping Forest finish seventh and qualify for the Europa League.<\/p>\n

His form saw him become a finalist for Sportsman of the Year at next month\u2019s Halberg Awards<\/a>. <\/p>\n

After having surgery, Wood took to social media to say he plans to come back stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the highs of last season to now the battles and the lows personally of this season,\u201d the caption read. \u201cYou have to be ready for anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruly gutting and frustrating that I\u2019ll be on the sideline for another period of time. It\u2019s what\u2019s needed to come back stronger and better to help my teammates do the job needed in the Prem and in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Frenchman has expressed his desire to leave Crystal Palace, who, like Forest, are fighting to stay in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[68,5263,534,806,13381,3276,16579,10542,7123,11908,36862,5213,3247,71,2883,78,15258,14731,111,139,13376,69,14730,5425,10715,2853,1527,312,6926,11925,9871,213,147535,147534,1361,223,52443,5264,1533,14451,102,14443,4883,377,80],"class_list":["post-255123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-air","tag-all","tag-amid","tag-as","tag-captain","tag-chris","tag-contact","tag-cup","tag-current","tag-english","tag-fifa","tag-football","tag-forest","tag-from","tag-hope","tag-in","tag-injury","tag-league","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nottingham","tag-nz","tag-premier","tag-regular","tag-remains","tag-replacement","tag-return","tag-says","tag-season","tag-seek","tag-speculation","tag-sports","tag-striker","tag-strikers","tag-that","tag-the","tag-transfer","tag-whites","tag-will","tag-window","tag-with","tag-wont","tag-wood","tag-world","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}