Nottingham Forest are blessed with a pretty decent squad this season and boss Sabri Lamouchi must feel blessed to have at least two players in competition for each position.
In the coming weeks, several other players are likely to return from injury to bolster the current group. One of those is ex-Leicester City defender Yohan Benalouane.
The Tunisian defender hasn’t played for the Reds since getting sent off in a 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United on Easter Monday.
In the time he has spent out injured Forest have coped admirably at the back, particularly at centre-back. Joe Worrall has returned from a loan spell at Rangers, Michael Dawson and Tobias Figueiredo have returned from injury concerns, whilst Chema Rodriguez has signed from Levante.
Alex Milosevic can’t get near the current squad and that doesn’t bode well for Benalouane.
A tweet from the 32-year-old does suggest that he could be on his way back to fitness. He has posted an image of himself in training with a return to action not looking too far away:
Benalouane might well be on his way towards full fitness but it seems unlikely that he will get into Lamouchi’s plans.
Better options
The five-cap international is way down the pecking order and didn’t show anything last season to suggest he can force his way beyond the current crop.
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Tough-tackling Benalouane did a job for Forest during an injury crisis but had the likes of Dawson and Figueiredo been fit last season he probably wouldn’t have been recruited in the first place.
His time at Forest will certainly be best remembered for his famous winning goal in last season’s 1-0 victory over Derby County.
The experienced performer is out of contract during the summer and should anyone come forward with a bid during the January window, it would come as no surprise to see Benalouane depart the City Ground.
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