Zach Abbott has appeared on the Nottingham Forest bench a number of times this season as Nuno Espirito Santo aims to give the young defender a taste of the first team.
Abbott was on the bench against Everton for his first appearance in a Premier League squad, which upheld the tradition of a Forest Academy graduate appearing in every match squad since October 1941.
It wasn’t just for the sake of this record, though, as Abbott is earning a strong reputation for himself at just 18 years old, with Steve Cooper singling out Abbott for praise in 2022, showing that his promise has pedigree.
The centre-back didn’t make it off the bench against Everton, but he was handed a start against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup in August. Paul Taylor was impressed with Abbott against Newcastle, which suggested that he may be ready for more minutes, but the Forest manager has remained patient.
Besides, simply being in the presence of the Forest squad as they battle for Champions League is experience enough for Abbott, who has revealed that two members of the squad have been a particular inspiration.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Zach Abbott is enjoying learning from one of the Premier League’s top defences
With Murillo already at the club and Nikola Milenkovic signing for Forest from Fiorentina, Espirito Santo has had access to one of the Premier League’s most imperious defences, something that Abbott has benefitted almost more than anyone else.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Abbott has reflected on his step into first-team training and what he has learned from Murillo and Milenkovic.
He said: “For anyone it’s a massive step, you go to the back of the pecking order really and that’s a really good challenge.
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“You need to be confident in yourself, do the right things at the right time and get involved with everything you can. I’m learning off what is now a top-three Premier League team so it’s really good for me to learn from one of the best defences in the Premier League.
“You see what they do and what I can do differently. I want to pick things up from people and magpie different things from different players.”
Commenting on his own progress, Abbott continued: “It’s been a really progressive year. I think I’ve learned a lot of really useful information, a lot of good tactics, and I just want to keep pushing on.
“There are World Cup players there, and that’s where I want to be in the future. They also know I need to make my own way and do things myself, so I like to learn from my own mistakes as well. They know that because they have been there, too. It’s really good around the place.”
There’s hope around the City Ground that Abbott can become a first-team regular at the club. If he does, his future partner at the back may have already been found by Evangelos Marinakis.
Zach Abbott and Tyler Bindon could be the future of the Nottingham Forest defence
Emphasising his promise, Abbott rejected a move to Manchester United to continue his progress in Nottingham.
This progress may be coupled with the emergence of Tyler Bindon in the coming years, as the New Zealand international continues to star whilst on loan at Reading.
Bindon signed for Forest on deadline day with little expectation, but week after week, the Reading fans are in awe of the centre-back, suggesting that he may just have a future at the City Ground.
On Tuesday, the Kiwi was once again excellent as Reading fans predicted a big-money move in the future for Bindon once he bursts onto the Premier League scene with Forest.
Clearly, then, Forest’s centre-back pairing for the future could already be in place. It will take a world-record fee for Forest to sell Murillo, but if that bid does materialise, the next generation looks well prepared to make the step up.