This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Seeing as it’s the international break, and talk has already begun about transfers at the City Ground, it would be a shame to miss out on the fun.
The goalkeeping position certainly has been one of much debate so far this season. As Paul Taylor put it in his latest column for The Athletic, ‘when the prospect of Nottingham Forest signing another goalkeeper cropped up in early August, there was borderline outrage among some fans… the question on many lips was Why?’’.
Whilst the club started off the season with Kosovan Aro Muric as the undisputed number one, with Sabri Lamouchi vehemently stating that Brice Samba was ‘for the future’, it took a while for him to be convinced to change his mind.
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But having been appointed as the number one during the Fulham game in late August, Samba has never looked back and has become a real fan favourite along the way, and when you have as many clean sheets as you do goals conceded, it’s not hard to see why.
So with Samba now the undisputed number one at the City Ground, barring a catastrophic run of mistakes in the future, it begs the question of what exactly is going to happen with the rest of the goalkeeping hierarchy.
Having spoken so highly of him last season, Pep Guardiola might not be too happy to see Muric sat on the bench, and with Preston North End reportedly looking at him over the summer, it wouldn’t be out of the realms of possibility to see him return to City sooner rather than later.
The possibility of departing also goes for Costel Pantilimon who was reportedly a target for Olympiacos in the summer having been the number one last season.
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Meanwhile, Jordan Smith at the age of 24 is at a ‘now or never’ stage when it comes to making a breakthrough for first-team action, so he may look to make a loan or permanent move elsewhere if he doesn’t feel his future is best suited in the Midlands.
It seems as though there could be either a lot of movement or no movement at all in January. Whilst Forest may know what their Plan A is, it seems as though Plan B might not be so straight forward – they must address this before January.
For a team with several options in their goalkeeping department, everything feels a bit uncertain.