Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper has revealed that Jordi Osei-Tutu is set to step up his recovery from injury by returning to training next week.

Signed by the Reds on a season-long loan deal from Arsenal in the summer transfer window, the defender would have been hoping to make a positive impression at the City Ground during the opening months of the 2021/22 campaign.

However, Osei-Tutu suffered a serious hamstring injury during Forest's clash with Blackburn Rovers in August and returned to the Emirates Stadium for his rehabilitation.

Having made a significant amount of progress in his road to recovery, the defender is now set to link up with Forest's players.

In Osei-Tutu's absence, Djed Spence has produced a host of impressive displays at right-back for the Reds in the Championship.

As well as helping his side keep four clean-sheets, the 21-year-old has also provided two direct goal contributions in 13 appearances.

Spence will be hoping to deliver another impressive performance for Forest when they head to The Hawthorns this evening to face West Bromwich Albion in the second-tier.

Ahead of this clash, Cooper has shared an update on Osei-Tuti's current situation.

Speaking to the Nottingham Post about the defender, the Forest boss said: "Osei-Tutu is back with us on Monday.

"He will commence his training with us.

"I'm looking forward to meeting him properly, and hopefully getting the right programme for him to feature soon.

"He's done his rehab, so he'll be training with us.

 

 

"We'll have to be careful.

"There will be some sort of transition period, in terms of communication with Arsenal - and rightly so, we want that as well, to make sure it's right for the player.

"But he will be back in training."

The Verdict

This is an encouraging update for Forest as Osei-Tutu could potentially fill the void left by Max Lowe who is set to be out of action for the foreseeable future due to a groin problem.

Whilst the 23-year-old has featured predominantly as a right-back during his career, he has illustrated in the past that he is capable of filling at left-back.

When you consider that Gaetan Bong is averaging a relatively underwhelming WhoScored match rating of 6.44 in the Championship this season, Osei-Tutu could potentially overtake his team-mate in the pecking order at the City Ground in the coming weeks when he is fit enough to feature at senior level.

By easing the defender back into action over the Christmas period, Cooper will minimise the risk of Osei-Tutu suffering a further injury setback.