Former Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman has revealed that Djamel Adboun came to his office ahead of the 2015/16 season and claimed that he was the best player in the Reds squad. 

The Algerian winger spent two years at the Midlands club after signing from Olympiacos for a fee thought to be around £1.55 million in 2013.

Abdoun never really found his feet at Forest – grabbing two goals and four assists in his 27 appearances during the 2013/14 season.

After not featuring once in the first half of the 2014/15 campaign, the Algerian was sent out on loan to Belgian side KSC Lokeren but made even less of an impact there – featuring just four times in total.

He returned to Forest in the summer of 2015 and it appears that despite his struggles he remained very confident in his own abilities.

Speaking to The Athletic, Freedman, who had taken charge of the Reds on the same day Abdoun left the club on loan, revealed that the Algerian winger came to see him in his office ahead of the 2015/16 season and made a pretty bold claim.

He said: "Abdoun did come to my office and tell me that he should be playing. He felt that he was the best player in the squad.

"I told him that, if he really thought that, he should go and tell the rest of the squad. And to be fair to him, he did go down to the dressing room and tell the players exactly that.

“I remember a few of the senior boys laughing about it. To be fair, I had told him to go to the dressing room to say it, and he actually had the guts to do it. Unfortunately, our opinion was not the same as his!"

Abdoun left to join Greek side Veria NPS later that summer and retired following the 2015/16 season.

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The Verdict

Things did not work out well for the Algerian at Forest and he is someone that much of the City Ground faithful may have been happy to forget.

This will likely be a pretty amusing story to many Reds fans, who will surely have a rather different stance than Abdoun about where he ranked among the squad at the time.

In some ways, you've got to respect the winger's belief in his own ability but going to Freedman's office to tell him he was the best player at the City Ground is perhaps a step too far.