Gboly Ariyibi has an uncertain future at Nottingham Forest, with the winger struggling for first-team football under Aitor Karanka. He had a chance to leave on loan earlier in the season but turned down an approach from his former club Chesterfield due to not wanting to play in the National League. Prior to his arrival at the City Ground, Ariyibi had made 96 appearances for the Spireites, scoring and creating 18 goals.
Karanka believed the winger was foolish to turn down a loan move away from Nottingham Forest back in September, saying to Nottingham Live: “I think always it is better to go to play competitive football. If you want to progress and improve, it is impossible to do so when you are only training every day, without playing. You need to compete, you need to win, you need to play. That is my philosophy.”
The 23-year-old hasn’t made a senior appearance for the Reds since joining in January 2017 and embarked upon two loan moves to MK Dons and Northampton Town last season to continue his development. Ariyibi is behind the likes of Joe Lolley, Matty Cash, Ben Osborn, Diogo Goncalves, Gil Dias, Arvin Appiah and Hilel Soudani in the pecking order and may be moved on next month.
He’s been playing for the u23s but reserve team football isn’t enough for a player of his age so he should seek a new club in January, either on loan or permanently. Karanka clearly has no plans to give Ariyibi any minutes this season so he doesn’t have much choice but to seek out another side.
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