Yohan Benalouane gave an injury update on Instagram and said he’s ‘working hard’ to recover and will return to training ‘in six weeks’. He said on Instagram: “I’m working hard to get back as soon as possible. I will come back at the training ground in 6 weeks #workinprogress. I miss (you) a lot, @officialnffc, I cant wait to be back at home at the City Ground.”
The Nottingham Forest defender has been out of action all season with a hip injury, missing the Reds’ 2-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion (August 3), 1-1 draw with Leeds United (August 10), 3-0 win over Birmingham City (August 17), 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic (August 21), 2-1 win over Fulham (August 24) and 1-1 draw with Preston North End (August 31).
Benalouane has also missed Forest’s EFL Cup clashes with Fleetwood Town (August 13) and Derby County (August 27) due to injury. The 32-year-old joined Forest from Leicester City in January 2019 and was a regular at the heart of the defence upon his arrival – featuring in 14 of 19 Championship games between mid-January and May – but he may struggle for playing time this season.
The Tunisian international has Michael Dawson, Joe Worrall, Tobias Figueiredo, Alexander Milosevic and Michael Hefele for competition at centre-back this season and is out of contract next summer. After picking up seven yellow cards and two red cards for Forest while being on the losing team in 50% of his matches, Sabri Lamouchi may not want Benalouane in his defence.
Time will tell if he was a future at the City Ground.