Nottingham Forest’s decision to sell star for £15m looks genius, he just dropped a ‘disaster’ display
Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo has had to make some unpopular decisions since he came to the club in December.
The job itself was always a bit of a poisoned chalice given the credit that Steve Cooper had in the bank among the club’s fan base.
Oliver Glasner was interviewed by Evangelos Marinakis but he wasn’t convincing and instead, attention turned to Espirito Santo.
One of his first acts was to mastermind the January transfer window and after three players were signed, it meant that some others had to depart.
One of those was the popular midfielder Orel Mangala. He moved to Lyon on an initial loan with a mandatory fee agreed between them and Forest for the summer.
At the time, the Belgian was playing well for the Reds but Espirito Santo had other players in mind for the positions and sanctioned a departure.
Last night, that move suddenly felt like a good one if his performance for Belgium was anything to go by.
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Orel Mangala slated for Belgium performance vs France
The 26-year-old midfielder was called up for international duty and last night was handed the chance to start against France.
It’s fair to say that things didn’t quite go according to plan for Mangala and two media outlets weren’t impressed with his performance.
Walfoot had some really harsh critique for him, scoring him 3/10 and claiming: “His pre-assist on the 1-1 could have saved his match, but once again, he was eaten up by opposing midfielders as soon as things accelerated. His nonchalant loss of the ball on the French 1-2 is a disaster. Insufficient.”
Furthermore, Foot Mercato also gave him a 3/10 and they called his performance ‘bland’ and criticised him for doing the ‘bare minimum’.
Forest decision over Mangala now looks like a genius move
Forest managed to get a hefty loan fee and £15 million in the summer from Lyon for Mangala and that move now looks like a good one.
The Reds have a wealth of talent in the middle of the park and offloading Mangala – and Moussa Niakhate – to Lyon, allowed the club to keep hold of the top stars.
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It says how poorly Mangala played for Lyon given that he’s already out on loan with Everton and he’s fighting to get a regular shirt in Sean Dyche’s team.
Meanwhile, Forest have Ryan Yates, Nicolas Dominguez, James Ward-Prowse and Ellior Anderson all in their midfield ranks – with Danilo and Ibrahim Sangare also in the squad but injured right now.
The Belgian was a steady player when he was at Forest but ultimately time moves on and Espirito Santo has been more than justified in his decision not to keep hold of Mangala.
