How often does someone leave the same club three times? Must be pretty rare.
Well Nottingham Forest could soon be faced with that situation, as Adlène Guedioura might be about to leave the City Ground. Guedioura is currently in his third spell at the City Ground, having initially joined on loan back in January of 2012, before making the deal permanent that summer. He then bounced around England for a while before returning back on another permanent deal in January of 2018.
However, it now looks as though his time is once again up. According to reports in the Kuwaiti press (via Le Buteur), Nottingham Forest are in advanced talks to sell the midfielder to Kuwaiti side Kuwait SC.
I think there’s a lot more for him to offer the club. It will require a change in position, but it can be done and will benefit both him and Forest in the long run.
When at Forest last year, he was predominantly used as a central midfielder, roles that are more than likely this season going to be filled by new signing Tiago Silva and last year’s midfield maestro Joao Carvalho. However, whilst playing for Algeria during the African Cup of Nations, he’s been used as a defensive midfielder in a 4-3-3 formation, the same formation current Forest boss Sabri Lamouchi did during his days with Ivory Coast.
At 33, it’s only natural that his legs are going to go, best evidenced by the fact he whacked that shot against West Brom last season rather than carry on running. So his days as a regular first teamer are more than likely done, particularly when you add the much younger Alfa Semedo into the equation who is likely to be playing in front of the back four this season.
I said when talking about Daryl Murphy that aging players still have a vital role to play in the team this season, even if they aren’t regular starters. With the Championship being as long as it is before you go into the cup competitions, you need a big squad to deal with the strain of it all. So keeping Guedioura as the backup option for Semedo makes perfect sense.
If they can get a reasonable fee for him, way more than his current Transfermarkt value of £675k, then obviously it would make financial sense. However, if it’s only for a miniscule fee, then I think it would be in Forest’s best interests to keep him on the books and use him as a rotation player.
