TuttoMercatoWeb recently reported (h/t Nottinghamshire Live) that Yohan Benalouane has signed a new contract at Nottingham Forest, keeping him at the City Ground until 2021. The Reds are yet to make a public announcement, however, which raises uncertainty over the report’s validity. Nevertheless, if Benalouane’s deal has been extended by 12 months, Sabri Lamouchi has made the wrong decision.
The 32-year-old didn’t have the best debut season at the City Ground and displayed a worrying lack of displine & good decision-making. Benalouane joinerd Forest from Leicester on an 18-month deal in January 2019 and went on to make 14 appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal. Unfortunately, he also picked up seven yellow cards and two reds.
The Tunisian international attempted 19 tackles and was dribbled past 31% of the time. He gave away 32 fouls in just 14 games, averaging one every 38 minutes in the Championship. Benalouane only completed 64% of his passes too and is arguably an expendable player from the defensive ranks.
Forest are overstocked at the back – Michael Dawson, Joe Worrall, Alex Milosevic, Michael Hefele, Tobias Figueiredo, Jack Robinson – and need to trim the squad as a result, so why would Lamouchi sanction Benalouane’s contract extension?
