Ex-Nottingham Forest defender Colin Barrett has claimed that Joao Carvalho can have a similar sort of impact at the club as Stan Collymore.

Carvalho joined Forest from Portuguese giants Benfica last summer for a reported club-record fee of £13.2million, and scored four goals and provided eight assists during his debut campaign for the club.

With the attacking midfielder now making his way back into the side following an injury-hampered start to the season, Barrett has backed the Portuguese to make a similar impact to Stan Collymore, who scored 41 league goals in two years at The City Ground, helping them win promotion to the Premier League in his debut campaign at The City Ground in the 1993/94 season.

Now Barrett has suggested that Carvalho could have a similar sort of impact to Collymore for Forest, with the European Cup winner telling Seat Pitch: “You need that somebody who gives you that spark, who gets you going.

“Robbo used to do it in my day. Stan Collymore – it’s a little bit different what Stan used to do, but he used to raise the roof and that’s what you need. When you get these players performing at their best, there is nothing better to watch.

“What they can give you is that the crowd get up, everyone’s on the up and the opposition are thinking to themselves ‘we’ve got a game on here’.

"You aren’t going to get that every single game but what you can do with Carvalho is what he showed in the equaliser against Preston, when he came on and passed the ball through."

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Discussing Carvalho's ability to carry out that role for Sabri Lamouchi's side, Barrett continued: “There was a good little bit of passing the other day at Swansea, with everyone talking about the reverse pass, so he’s got vision and provided you have got people around making runs and in the right spaces, I think he can find them.

“You just have to accept the fact that it won’t come off all the time. But it’s vital that you have that kind of player in your side.”

While it seems Barrett does have some concerns about Carvalho, the former defender believes that is something Forest have to learn to live with, as he added: “If you take all of the other things out of his game and just allow him to perform and let him do what he wants to do and accept that you aren’t going to get the hard-tackling, the hard grafting and a hard midfield player, then he’s vital to Forest in terms of what he can create.

“You might have to carry him in some games but at least it’s worthwhile carrying him because what he can give you is the opportunity to score goals. That’s what you need, someone to create."

Forest are currently tenth in the Championship, having won three and drawn three of their opening seven games of the season.

Sabri Lamouchi's side are next in action when they Barnsley at The City Ground on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

This is a big claim for Barrett to make.

Carvalho has certainly shown flashes of brilliance since his arrival last summer, but he still needs to improve his record significantly if he is to match the sort of returns Collymore was producing.

It will be a huge challenge for Carvalho to do that, particularly given the competitive nature of the Championship these days, where there are so many sides competing for a place in the Premier League.

If Carvalho can do that however, then you Forest's own chances of claiming one of those places in the top flight, will be increased significantly.