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Despite still being relatively new, it’s time for Forest to move on from defender – Opinion

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So it looks like Nottingham Forest’s business in the transfer window may not be completed after all.

Reports in Turkey have linked Forest’s 32-year-old French defender Yohan Benalouane with a move to Fenerbache. Benalouane has got less than a year left on his contract, however he wasn’t going to take these proposals lying down.

He posted on his Instagram yesterday:

“My target it’s to come back in @premierleague and make the #story here with @officialnffc & I feel really like at home #nottingham #nottinghamforest so I will go NOWHERE ELSE. Here I am & here I stay!!!!”

Whilst he may be adamant in wanting to stay at the City Ground, I think that he needs to be shipped out. Yes, he has gone down as a bit of a cult hero at the club even though he has only been here 6 months, that goal against Derby County will live long in the memory of Nottingham Forest fans. But there comes a time when you need to move on, either through their own choice like Brian Clough, or through the choices of others like Martin O’Neill.

Plus with his contract expiring at the end of the season, wouldn’t it be better to cash in on him now rather than keeping him on board and letting him walk away next year for nothing? The squad is still pretty much at breaking point because of its size, and the club have made some efforts to trim the squad by getting rid of players they don’t want, although nobody else seems to want them either.

Now you’ve got someone that is actually wanted by another club, it is in Forest’s best interests to sell him.

You’ve got a group of much younger centre-backs coming through the ranks, the likes of Joe Worrall who is 22, Tobias Figueiredo aged 25, and although Alexander Milosevic and Chema Rodriguez aren’t exactly spring chickens at 27, you’ll still be getting more years out of them than you would Benalouane.

That’s probably the biggest reason of all for him to make a move away from the City Ground. With Sabri Lamouchi showing that he’s willing to give youth a chance, at the moment him staying is just stunting the growth of all those players that are waiting in the wings behind him.

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