Nottingham Forest worked tirelessly in the transfer market to sell almost 20 players, both permanently and on loan.
The Reds have had a bloated roster since returning to the Premier League, but that is changing.
Only Emmanuel Dennis remains a senior player who is not actively training with Nuno Espirito Santo’s team, indicating development.
Forest has welcomed 11 new players to its ranks, and things appear to be much more streamlined these days, with an emphasis on an established squad.
The majority of the players who went were expected, and the loan players who left will be closely observed by Forest’s backroom personnel.
Omar Richards, who was on loan from Nottingham Forest, now plays for Rio Ave.
In an unexpected turn of events, Richards was allowed to depart the club on loan again this summer.
He spent last season at Olympiacos and has yet to play a competitive game for Forest after signing from Bayern Munich.
Richards spent time in Spain with Forest on a pre-season tour, but it became evident shortly after his return that Espirito Santo would not be included him in his team.
As a result, the player was loaned out to Rio Ave, which is controlled by Evangelos Marinakis, and he has been striving to flourish in Portugal.
Now that some information has surfaced about how he’s doing with his new loan club, things appear to be going nicely.
This week’s Long Ball Futebol podcast included Portuguese journalist Filipe Melo, who was highly impressed with Richards.
According to him: “Omar Richards is a great player, he’s actually way too good for this level of football and should be playing higher.”
Richards might never wear the Forest shirt.
Richards has had a run of bad luck since signing in 2022. During his first season with the club, he shattered a bone in his leg and required surgery for a hernia.
Last season, Steve Cooper didn’t think he’d be able to keep healthy and sent him out on loan to try to resuscitate his career.
He did win the Europa Conference League with Olympiacos, but he apparently failed to impress Espirito Santo enough in preseason.
Richards’ contract expires in the summer of next year, and it appears that this is a bad signing.
Injuries derailed his Forest dreams, and now it’s up to Richards to keep creating the goods to get himself in the shop display.
