The transfer deadline day drama was once again in overdrive from a Nottingham Forest perspective.
Forest lost 3-0 to West Ham on Sunday, and as a result, Evangelos Marinakis decided to go all in and truly finalise the squad for the 2025/26 campaign.
John Victor signed for Forest from Botafogo, with his teammate Cuiabano also checking in on Trentside shortly after the window closed.
Dilane Bakwa checked in at Forest from Strasbourg, and there was also a late shock on the cards.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was signed by Forest with just minutes of the window remaining in a signing that genuinely came out of the blue for supporters.
As ever, there was a lot going on during a very hectic day, and one deal might have gone unnoticed from a Forest perspective.
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Omar Richards leaves Nottingham Forest
One deal that did get overlooked amid a host of incoming business was the decision to send Omar Richards back to Rio Ave.
The left-back hasn’t played a competitive match for Forest since his £8 million move from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022.
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Last season, he spent time with Rio Ave in Portugal, where he managed to play lots of games and get his career back on track somewhat.
Richards was announced as a departure right in the middle of Bakwa being confirmed, and a bid for Zinchenko being accepted by Arsenal, meaning that it got lost somewhat.
Omar Richards has rejoined Rio Ave on a season-long loan. 🇵🇹
Good luck, Omar. 👊
— Nottingham Forest (@NFFC) September 1, 2025
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Richards deserves a chance to play away from Forest
It’s hard not to feel a little bit sorry for Richards with how his time at Forest had panned out.
Shortly after he made the switch from Bayern, it was established that he had a hairline fracture in his shin, and once he’d recovered from that, he required surgery on a hernia issue.
The following season, he went down the pecking order with Forest and was sent to Olympiacos, where he helped the club win the UEFA Conference League.
Now, with Forest adding two left-backs to compete with Neco Williams, it feels like this is it for Richards at the City Ground.
At least he’s gone to a club that he knows and to one where he will fancy playing regular football for another season.
Richards has been desperately unlucky at Forest and hopefully, now this move can eventually lead to a permanent exit in the future.