Nottingham Forest allowed a number of players to leave the club during the summer and despite signing a new central defender, Andrew Omobamidele was kept on Trentside.
Omobamidele signed for Forest from Norwich City for £11 million and following the arrival of Nuno Espirito Santo in December, he started to get minutes in the senior ranks.
Omobamidele was a signing that once again screamed of not being part of Steve Cooper’s recruitment plan. He didn’t make a single appearance under the former boss and the arrival looked odd, to say the least.
The 22-year-old made his debut for Forest against Blackpool in the FA Cup. Omobamidele scored as the Reds made hard work of knocking out the League One outfit in a reply.
The defender finished last season with 14 appearances to his name for Forest. Omobamidele’s defining performance probably came in the 3-1 win over Fulham when everyone on the team produced the goods in a big win.
The Republic of Ireland are a nation really struggling on the football pitch. They lost 2-0 to Greece last night after a narrow 2-1 won over Finland secured last week.
It’s three defeats from four games in the Nations League though and for the Republic of Ireland things have been a real struggle of late.
Omobamidele played in a 2-0 defeat to Greece during the last international break but for this link-up with the Republic of Ireland squad, he’s not played any football.
Omobamidele hasn’t yet made the pitch for Forest in a Premier League game this season and now, this snub on the international stage must give him some cause for concern.
The defender played the full game as Forest were beaten on penalties by Newcastle in the Carabao Cup but having not made the bench for the last three Reds games, there is now a real cause for concern.
Forest must loan out Omobamidele in January
With Willy Boly picking up an injury, it perhaps makes sense that Forest chose to keep hold of Omobamidele during the summer transfer window.
However, the club now has Boly back to full fitness and the Brazilian defender Morato to provide cover for Nikola Milenkovic and Murillo.
Omobamidele is now in limbo. This snub on the international stage will seriously have hurt him and the youngster will just be desperate to play some regular football.
Playing football is paramount for a player’s development and it wouldn’t appear that Omobamidele is going to play much for Forest this season.
The defender has bags of experience in the Championship, playing 45 times for Norwich in the second tier and a move back to that league in January looks logical.
Forest have a talented player on their hands in Omobamidele but it’s now imperative that he goes and plays some football during the second half of the campaign.
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