Wagner: Omobamidele’s move to Forest is a ‘win-win’ for both sides Omobamidele bids farewell to Norwich City supporters at Bristol City before joining Nottingham Forest on the final day of the transfer window The Irish centre back’s departure from the club was confirmed in a deal believed to be worth up to £20m after the Reds’ initial offers were rejected. Omobamidele has made it clear he wants to return to the top flight, which led to a dramatic few hours on Friday evening when he left the club and Danny Batth arrived on a free transfer.

City officials finalised the deal with minutes remaining in the game and Batth was present in the director’s box for Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Rotherham. According to reports in the North East, the experienced centre-back did not feature in Sunderland’s opening league games because of a’six-figure’ payment clause for another league game. Wagner made it clear, however, that Batth is in form and ready to challenge for a place in the starting line-up, both financially and in terms of quality. The manager added: “It was a very late window, but a very good offer came in for Andrew, so we decided to let him go. Of course, Andrew wanted to get back into the Premier League, too. I have said this before, but if a situation arises, we will always look out for the best interest of the club.

“With Danny coming in I am very relaxed on the centre back situation. We filled this gap with a player who is well known to Stuart (Webber) and Clem (Paul Clements) from their time at Wolves. A top professional, a super character.

“This is a little bit the same idea we had with Adam Forshaw. A player who will challenge our other centre backs for sure. Another player who was desperate to join us as well.

“We have added two more guys to our group (along with South Korean striker Ui-jo Hwang). Both are healthy, both are fit. Both had good pre-seasons.”

Batth will be put through his paces at Colney during the international break. Former Leeds midfielder Forshaw played for the under-21s earlier on Saturday as he steps up his fitness and Wagner also delivered positive news on Borja Sainz and Onel Hernandez.

Summer signing Sainz has not featured after an ankle ligament injury while Hernandez broke his hand in the League Cup win at QPR.

After a minor surgery on a pelvic complaint, Jacob Sorensen is expected to return to training at the conclusion of the international fortnight. The other players will be Borja, Forsy and Onel, who will be in training for the next two weeks. Forshaw has played 45 minutes in the Under-21s and 20 minutes in the Cup. With two weeks of pre-season and possibly a couple of under-21 minutes in the squad, we can say that he has completed his pre-season and is now in the mix. The others, such as Borja and Onel, will need pre-season and under-21 minutes to be in the frame. I hope that Lunghi (Jacob Sorensen) will be back by the end of this international period.