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Opinion: Martin O’Neill signing could see Nottingham Forest outcast leave in July

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Martin O’Neill signed Leo Bonatini on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers until the end of the season which could be bad news for Karim Ansarifard’s chances of getting first-team football. There was already stiff competition from Lewis Grabban and Daryl Murphy for a starting place, but Bonatini may have ended the 28-year-old’s hopes of getting more minutes before the campaign comes to a close.

Since his arrival on a free transfer in November 2018, Ansarifard has made only five appearances for Nottingham Forest. His last outing for the Reds was against Queens Park Rangers on December 22 and he hasn’t even made the matchday squad since. The former Olympiacos striker was recently away at the Asian Cup with Iran but has remained on the periphery upon his return – he was left out of the 18-man squad against Birmingham City.

O’Neill started Murphy against the Blues and brought on Grabban and Bonatini from the bench, so Ansarifard is currently fourth in the pecking order. He has a lot of work to do to dethrone the aforementioned trio and may not have enough time to pull it off. His contract has 18 months to run, but he could be made available for a transfer in July.

Read Crippy Cooke’s previous article

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Sports journalist who is an avid football fan, enjoys debunking transfer rumours, loves to write pieces about players out in the cold and takes a large amount of pride getting a predicted XI 100% correct.