Nottingham Forest Agree £22m Deal to Reunite Daniel Munoz With Oliver Glasner

Daniel Munoz is set to follow Oliver Glasner from Crystal Palace to Nottingham Forest, after the two clubs agreed a deal worth a minimum of £22m for the Colombia international.

The 30-year-old has been given permission to have a medical, with talks between the clubs accelerating in the days after Palace’s 4-1 defeat to Manchester City. Forest’s proposal is understood to consist of £20m up front with a further £2m in potential add-ons, a package Munoz has pushed for as he seeks a return to working under the manager who won three trophies with him at Selhurst Park.

A reunion three years in the making

Munoz joined Crystal Palace from Belgian side Genk in 2024 and quickly became one of Glasner’s most trusted players, making 109 appearances and scoring 11 goals from right wing-back. He played a central role in Palace’s historic run under Glasner, helping the club win the FA Cup, the Community Shield and the Europa Conference League, a period of success unmatched in the club’s modern history.

That relationship is now set to continue at the City Ground. Glasner has made no secret of his admiration for Munoz in the months after taking over at Forest, and the move gives him a player who already understands his tactical demands, rather than one he would need to develop from scratch in the middle of a season already under way.

Palace prepared to sell as replacement is lined up

Munoz has just under two years left on his contract at Palace. He has been important to the side in recent seasons, but the club are still prepared to let him leave this summer. Palace have already brought in Anan Khalaili from Belgian club Royale Union Saint-Gilloise this summer, and the Israel international is expected to step into Munoz’s position under current head coach Pierre Sage.

Munoz played in Palace’s opening 2-0 Premier League defeat at Everton this season but was an unused substitute in the 4-1 loss to Manchester City that appears to have hastened his exit. Losing a player of his experience and trophy pedigree will not be an easy adjustment for Palace, even with Khalaili already at the club and ready to compete for the position.

Palace’s front office now faces the task of managing a squad in transition without the manager who oversaw its greatest period of success. Glasner’s departure to Forest earlier this year was already a significant blow to a club still trying to build on the momentum of its cup wins, and losing one of the players most closely associated with that success only adds to the sense that Selhurst Park is entering a new, less certain chapter under Sage.

The Colombian international behind the move

Munoz has become one of the most reliable full internationals playing in the Premier League in the two seasons after his move from Genk in 2024, earning regular selection for Colombia and building a reputation as one of the league’s more effective attacking wing-backs. His combination of defensive discipline and end product, 11 goals in two seasons from a position that rarely produces that kind of return, has made him a popular figure among Palace supporters and a valuable asset in the transfer market.

That popularity is part of what makes this transfer a difficult one for Palace fans to accept. Munoz was not a squad player drifting toward the exit door. He was a first-team regular and a key contributor to the club’s most successful spell in its history, and his departure alongside Glasner will be read by many supporters as further evidence that the club’s cup-winning core is being broken up piece by piece.

Glasner’s growing footprint at Forest

In the weeks after taking charge at the City Ground, Glasner has moved with clear intent to reshape Forest’s squad around players and systems he trusts. The signings of Diomande and Schlager already reflect connections built through his time in Austria and Germany, and the pursuit of Munoz fits the same pattern: recruiting players whose qualities he has already tested rather than gambling on unfamiliar signings in the middle of a season already under way.

That approach carries obvious risk. Building a squad around a small circle of trusted names limits the pool of alternatives available if injuries or loss of form strike key positions. But it also gives Forest a squad with a clearer tactical identity than many promoted or newly rebuilt sides manage to establish in their first full season back among the game’s biggest spenders.

Another careful signing in a quieter summer

Munoz would become Forest’s latest addition in what has been a more restrained transfer window than the one that brought promotion-era turnover to the City Ground under previous ownership. Glasner has already added centre-back Ousmane Diomande in a £34m deal, one of the more significant fees committed by the club this summer, along with midfielder Xaver Schlager on a free transfer from RB Leipzig, a player Glasner worked with previously at Wolfsburg.

Those signings, along with the earlier addition of striker Liam Delap from Chelsea, point to a manager building carefully around specific positions rather than overhauling the squad wholesale. Glasner has said he expects one or two further additions before the deadline, adding that his priority is quality over the number of arrivals.

Forest have also shown continued ambition elsewhere in the market this deadline week, having lodged a separate £40m bid, plus a potential sell-on clause, for Everton’s highly-rated teenage midfielder Harrison Armstrong. Whether that pursuit succeeds or not, the Munoz deal alone signals a club unafraid to spend to strengthen a specific, experienced position under its new manager.

What Munoz brings to Forest’s rebuild

At right wing-back, Munoz offers Forest a level of experience in Glasner’s system that few other options on the market could match. His attacking output from a defensive position, 11 goals across two seasons at Palace, gives Forest an outlet down the right that can contribute directly to goals rather than simply support the players ahead of him. His understanding of Glasner’s pressing structure, built over three seasons together, should also allow him to slot into Forest’s shape with far less adaptation time than a new arrival unfamiliar with the manager’s methods would need.

For Palace, the departure represents the clearest sign yet that the trophy-laden Glasner era at Selhurst Park is being dismantled piece by piece, first through the manager’s own departure to Forest and now through one of his most reliable lieutenants following him there. Sage inherits a squad still talented enough to compete near the top of the table, but one that will look and feel different from the side that lifted three trophies together over the past two seasons.

A deal set to close before the deadline

With Munoz already given clearance for a medical, the move looks set to be completed well ahead of Tuesday’s 23:00 BST transfer deadline for Premier League and EFL clubs, leaving both squads with time to adjust before their next fixtures rather than scrambling through a last-minute deal on deadline day itself. Forest fans will see it as further proof of Glasner’s clear vision for the squad he wants: players who already trust him, slotted into positions where their qualities are proven rather than projected, as the club tries to build on last season’s return to European football.

For Munoz, the switch offers a chance to keep building on the most successful period of his career so far, this time in unfamiliar red rather than the Palace colours in which he won every one of his trophies. Whether he can help Forest challenge for anything close to what he achieved at Selhurst Park remains to be seen, but the early signs, in Glasner’s willingness to pay for him specifically and in Munoz’s own push to make the move happen, suggest both parties see the reunion as more than a simple business decision. It looks, at this stage, like two men who trust each other trying to recreate something rare in modern football: a working relationship that already knows how to win.

Forest’s supporters, meanwhile, get a clear signal from their manager about where the club stands after a summer of relative restraint in the market. Rather than chase headline names to satisfy expectation, Glasner has gone after a specific profile of player he already trusts to deliver at Premier League level, and Munoz’s willingness to push for the move suggests the feeling between the two men remains as strong as it was in their trophy-laden spell together at Selhurst Park.