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Opinion: Nottingham Forest won’t sign out-of-favour player on a permanent deal this summer

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Diogo Goncalves has struggled for form and playing time since joining Nottingham Forest on loan from Benfica. The 22-year-old has spent more than seven months at the City Ground, making only eight appearances in all competitions, failing to score or create a goal.

Goncalves has racked up only 429 minutes of playing time this season and looks unlikely to join Forest permanent this summer. Gil Dias’ loan from AS Monaco was cut short after he struggled for form, and it appears another Portuguese player has failed to set the Championship alight.

The left-winger has a buying option attached to his contract that would allow Forest to sign Goncalves when his loan comes to an end, but his performances haven’t warranted the club procuring his signature on a permanent basis. After making two appearances at the start of the season, Goncalves didn’t play again for two months.

He’d made only three league appearances by October and didn’t make another until three months later under new manager Martin O’Neill. He’s featured twice since but has been mostly an unused substitute so it’s hard to see Goncalves having a future at the City Ground past the summer.

Crippy Cooke’s previous article

Garry Birtles lauds Nottingham Forest man for ‘progress being made’ in recent weeks

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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.