Aitor Karanka reveals Nottingham Forest man ‘is training’ but needs to ‘rebuild confidence’

Aitor Karanka has revealed that Daniel Fox “is training” with the Nottingham Forest first-team but will only feature again when he “rebuilds his confidence”. The 32-year-old has struggled with a foot injury this season, spending a total of two months on the sidelines.

Since being substituted in the second-half against Leeds United on October 27, he hasn’t made the matchday squad in any competition for Forest. Karanka, however, has opened the door to a return ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Norwich, saying that Fox will play if he feels confident.

The forest boss said to Nottingham Live: “Foxy is training with the rest of the team and he needs to feel confident. On the day he feels confident, he will play. It is up to him to decide when he is ready; it is down to him to rebuild his confidence.”

Fox has made 16 appearances in all competitions this season, having been a regular at left-back prior to the injury. The left-back has since been replaced by Jack Robinson and Saidy Janko most recently, but the veteran could be his post back in the side if he’s giving off the right signals in training.

After a two-month layout, it’s understandable that Fox would need some conditioning work to handle the pace of the Championship again, so a return may not come immediately next week but in early 2019 if Karanka sees fit.

Crippy Cooke’s previous article