Nottingham Forest have used the loan market significantly more effectively this summer than they did a year ago.
Under Steve Cooper’s guidance, the club decided to sign Andrey Santos on loan from Chelsea as its domestic loan.
He played only seven minutes for Forest before being recalled in January and moved to Strasbourg, where he demonstrated his talent.
The team also signed Nuno Tavares on loan, and the less said about that, the better.
Forest took a chance on a number of players on international loan.
Gonzalo Montiel joined from Sevilla in the summer, and Giovanni Reyna and Rodrigo Ribeiro signed in January with limited success.
Another loanee from last season was Divock Origi, and while things appeared to be going well at first, it soon became clear that his finest days were behind him.
Divock Origi in limbo after Nottingham Forest failure
If the striker could turn back the clock, he would probably not bother going to Forest, as his loan stay has been nothing short of disastrous.
He did not score in the Premier League and only got one goal in an FA Cup match against Bristol City.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the player has been left on the outskirts of AC Milan since his return to the San Siro.
The club attempted desperately to transfer him over the summer, but it is said that his phone isn’t ringing off the hook with bids.
Furthermore, he is not currently training with the Italian giants’ main squad and is working independently with a personal trainer.
There is potential for him to participate in some of the sessions with the under-23s, but finding a club has proven difficult.
Forest did well to avoid signing akin to Origi this summer
Given Origi’s Premier League experience, it was understandable why Forest chose to sign him last summer.
However, the striker’s career was doomed from the start, as he only played 754 minutes at the City Ground.
The most detrimental feature of Origi’s arrival was the £87,000-per-week salary that Forest appeared to have squandered for the past year.
As a result, the club was never going to commit to a permanent contract, and happily, they avoided a similar signing this summer.
The Reds added 11 players to their roster after a careful summer transfer window.
Fortunately, the club avoided paying a fortune for a big-money player who may have simply been interested in collecting a hefty payday.
Nothing against Origi, but playing at Liverpool is not the same as playing for Forest, and he was simply not up to the task.
Given this, it’s not surprising that the athlete is currently failing to find a club.