Nottingham Forest didn’t use the loan market particularly well during the 2023/24 campaign.
The club opted for a bit of an erratic approach with pretty much all of the loan players having little to zero impact.
Divock Origi was dreadful and didn’t score a Premier League goal, whilst Andrey Santos played just seven minutes before returning to Chelsea.
Gonzalo Montiel was perhaps a small exception and he did okay when called upon but Nuno Tavares was another who couldn’t get in the team.
Bizarrely, Tavares is now one of the top-performing players in Serie A and it’s a mystery why it didn’t work at Forest.
Another loan player who arrived at the club was Giovanni Reyna who checked in from Borussia Dortmund.
He came with a big reputation but never quite hit his straps during his time at Forest, struggling for game time under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Giovanni Reyna of Dortmund runs with the ball during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund at Borussia-Park o...
Photo by Christof Koepsel/Getty Images
Clint Dempsey says Giovanni Reyna is Champions League quality
The former USA international played for Fulham and Tottenham in the Premier League and he’s a big fan of Reyna.
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He’s taken some offence to suggestions from Landon Donovan that Reyna should have returned to the MLS after a failed spell with Forest.
Last night, Reyna started for Dortmund in a 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League.
Dempsey hailed Reyna on CBS Sports before the clash and he’s suggested what potentially held him back at Forest.
He said: “I think Landon Donovan said that if he stayed in the MLS he’d get more playing time but I disagree with what Landon is saying.
“It’s not about his ability it’s about whether or not he can stay fit and if he can stay fit he has the ability to be playing at a Champions League club and that’s why he’s playing tonight in a huge game against Barcelona.
“He can’t show that he can stay fit consistently and that’s kind of been his issue.
“His ability, he’s a Champions League calibre player, he should be at a big club and he can do the business.
Forest didn’t see the best of Reyna
The issue Forest had is that Reyna’s best position happens to be the number 10 role where the Reds have Morgan Gibbs-White.
That hampered his progress and it meant that the American was constantly forced to prove himself from the bench.
In fairness, he didn’t cover himself in glory at Forest but the whole reason ended up at the City Ground was because he had struggled with injuries at Dortmund.
Reyna will now hope to stay in the team and it says a lot that the Bundesliga outfit have chosen to keep him around this season.
The youngster never impressed sufficiently at Forest and if Dempsey’s comments are anything to go by the Reds might be left wondering what might have been in the future.
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