Despite one big setback not too long ago, the Steve Cooper era at Nottingham Forest has gotten off to a pretty good start.

The 4-0 home defeat to Fulham can't simply be ignored, but aside from that the Reds have won five Championship games and drawn three since Cooper's arrival in September and he's moved the club right up the league table.

One thing that Cooper hasn't yet been able to do though is bring in some fresh players of his own with the transfer window shutting a few weeks before he replaced Chris Hughton in the dugout at the City Ground.

He will get the chance to make moves in less than two months time though when 2022 arrives and it won't just be restricted to incomings as there's likely to be players leaving the club as well.

 

 

 

 

Let's look at two men who could be set for a departure from the Tricky Trees when January rolls around.

Carl Jenkinson

It almost feels like Jenkinson has vanished completely recently and it's a sad state of affairs to see him struggling to find minutes at Forest.

A one-time England international whilst an Arsenal player, Jenkinson has played just 11 league games for Forest since signing in 2019 with three of them coming last season - the majority of the time he just sat on the bench.

Jenkinson was told by Chris Hughton last season that he was not in his plans and it doesn't seem like he's in Steve Cooper's either.

He hasn't been in a matchday squad this season so sooner rather than later he's going to have to depart for the good of his career - at 29 years old Jenkinson could still have a good few years left of first-team football somewhere and with his contract expiring this summer he could be granted an early release in January.

Cafu

As part of Forest's links with Greek giants Olympiakos thanks to Evangelos Marinakis owning both clubs, Cafu was loaned from the Piraeus-based outfit to Trentside last season and that became a permanent move back in February.

The Portuguese midfielder made 31 appearances for Forest last season but he's found game-time harder to come by this season thanks to the resurgence of Jack Colback, the form of Ryan Yates and James Garner coming back to the club.

The 28-year-old has not been in a single Cooper squad so far and he must be fit considering he featured in a Forest under-23 match against Stoke City in mid-October, so we can only assume he is out of favour and a departure may be on the cards.