Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon has completed his move to Cypriot side AC Omonoia on loan for the rest of the season, as confirmed by the Reds.

Pantilimon has found himself frozen out of the first team picture so far this season under Sabri Lamouchi, with the keeper having found himself behind the likes of summer signings Brice Samba and Arijanet Muric, as well as Jordan Smith.

The 32-year-old was a key figure for the Reds last season, with the keeper establishing himself as the club’s number one between the sticks for most of the campaign, making 44 appearances in the Championship for Forest last term.

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However, after finding his chances of first team minutes limited so far this season he has now headed out to Omonoia to get some regular game time during the rest of the campaign, and the Reds will then need to assess his long-term future in the summer.

The verdict

This is hardly a surprising move, with Pantilimon having found himself way down the pecking order at Forest so far this campaign, due to the excellent form of Samba who has really established himself as the club’s number one since he arrived at the City Ground in the summer.

Lamouchi seems content to have Smith as Forest’s number two keeper behind Samba, which suggests that Pantilimon was going to be highly unlikely to feature for the Reds during the rest of the campaign, which means it makes sense to see him go out on loan for more regular minutes.

The keeper will be hoping that he can impress during his loan spell so that he can potentially open himself up to interest from other clubs during the summer transfer window, with the 32-year-old’s long-term future likely to be away from the City Ground.

Pantilimon was a reliable performer last season for the Reds and did manage to pull off some important interventions, but Samba has managed to take his performances to another level in goal for Forest this term, which has meant that the keeper has not been able to continue to make the same impact