Aitor Karanka is keen to move Zach Clough out of Nottingham Forest, with it his view that the forward needs to be playing first-team football over the course of the 2018/19 campaign.  

Clough has been with Forest since January 2017, but he has managed just 27 Championship appearances, with only 13 of those coming in the starting XI.

The Reds opted to send Clough out on-loan to his former club, Bolton Wanderers, last January, but on his return to the Macron Stadium, Clough made just two starts and seven substitute appearances, as the Trotters battled against relegation.

Discussing the need for the 23-year-old to go out and play this season, Karanka told the Nottingham Post: “I would like that Zach can go to a place to play football. Last season he went to Bolton thinking that, because he had already been there, it would be easy for him to play. But he came back here without really playing.

“I think this season, particularly for him, he has to go to a place where he is going to play. He is a good player and he can show how good he is – but only if he plays.”

So far this season, Forest have played three Championship fixtures, with Clough not involved in any of Karanka’s matchday squads.

The ex-Bolton forward’s last appearance for the Reds came in late January, when Clough featured for 45 minutes as a substitute in a 2-1 defeat to Hull City in the FA Cup.

Over the course of his Forest career, the forward has scored four goals.

The Verdict  

During his first spell at Bolton, Clough looked like a real talent, but since his move to Nottingham, things haven’t really worked out.

This season, he’s clearly not in Karanka’s thoughts, so a loan move needs to be sorted between now and the end of the month.

Karanka clearly sees the importance of the next year in Clough’s career.

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