'Agree deal' - former Newcastle United man undergoing medical ahead of Premier League move

Nottingham Forest have agreed a deadline day deal to sign former Newcastle United flop Matz Sels.

The Belgian goalkeeper joined the Magpies from Gent ahead of the 2016-17 Championship season and started the opening nine games but a series of unconvincing performances led to him being dropped by then manager Rafa Benitez.

Sels featured in the League Cup and FA Cup in the same campaign but never played in the league again. The 31-year-old spent the 2017-18 term on loan at Anderlecht before joining Ligue 1 outfit Strasbourg in a £3.5million deal.

After making 175 appearance for Strasbourg in five-and-half-years, Sels is set to be handed a English lifeline. According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano: "Nottingham Forest agree deal to sign Matz Sels as new goalkeeper, here we go! Strasbourg to receive fee around €6/7m as deal has been completed. Sels, flying to Nottingham for medical." Opening up on his struggles at Newcastle, Sels told Official Ligue 1 Podcast, Le Beau Jeu: "Maybe for me it was difficult, the adaptation Also, for me, it was the first time [playing] abroad, and the first time in another country, so it's a different mentality and new habits.

"It was really difficult in the beginning. Newcastle took me as a No 1, so I needed to be ready immediately, and maybe that was the thing. Maybe I was not ready immediately from the beginning because I needed a few months more to adapt.

"But that is the past; now I try to look forward, work hard, and maybe in the future I will get another opportunity to show the people that it was unlucky for me. I hope I can show them that I was a good signing for them [Newcastle]."

Sels added: "The Championship is not the Premier League; it's more kick-and-rush style, so the referees are not protecting the goalkeepers a lot, and everything like that.

"For the rest it's quite the same [playing as a goalkeeper in different countries]; you have to take the ball, and keep the [score at] zero. I don't know, maybe in the Championship [it is more physical] because there is another way of playing, so it's more physical."