This would be a pretty risky one if you ask me.
With Sabri Lamouchi saying in the aftermath of the Swansea game that the club need to be careful with how they manage striker Lewis Grabban from here on out, there has been some speculation, some of it by me, about what the club should do should he go down for a long period of time.
One man however thinks the club don’t need to look too far for a solution, as he’s already on Forest’s books. Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, former Reds player Garry Birtles said:
“Tyler Walker has already got five goals for Lincoln City this season after scoring against Rochdale on Tuesday night. That’s five in 11 games this season. If he keeps that ratio up then why not bring him back early from his loan spell in January? Nottingham Forest only have two senior strikers in contention at the moment and one of them, Rafa Mir, is yet to prove he can cut it in the Championship. Goals are goals whether you score them in League One or the Championship.”
However, my main concern with this that he thinks that the step up from League One to Championship will be straight forward. History has shown us that it doesn’t necessarily work like that.
For every Rickie Lambert who hit the ground running when he first came into the division, there will also be a Jamie Vardy who only managed to get four in his first season in the second tier, so it’s a bit hit and miss saying that Walker would be able to get you the goals should Grabban be out for an extended period of time.
Obviously we’re talking hypotheticals here, so hopefully Grabban stays fit and Rafa Mir can show his worth, but personally I think it would be best to keep Walker on loan for the rest of the season and bring in one of the free agents that are currently out there, just to act as a rotation option and keep Walker as the first choice at Lincoln City.
What about you? Do you think that Walker should be recalled in January? Or do you think that his development would be better off served by staying in League One for the rest of the season?
