Nottingham Forest were active in strengthening their squad during the summer, with 12 new players added to Sabri Lamouchi’s ranks ahead of a push towards promotion.
In order to make way for some of the new boys, Forest offloaded some of the deadwood; whilst several young players were sent on temporary loan spells.
One of those offered the chance to play some first-team football out on loan was defender Jayden Richardson. The right-back is highly-rated by the club’s academy staff and joined Exeter City for the 2019/20 campaign.
Forest handed the 19-year-old a new long-term professional contract back in April and clearly he is tipped for a bright future at the City Ground.
First-team football is paramount for a young player’s development, however, and it was anticipated that a loan would help him to improve as a player in the men’s game.
Richardson has been forced to play a watching brief for a large part of his temporary foray at St James’ Park, however. Although he has played in five games, he has only started twice and perhaps more crucially, he has only played 216 minutes of football.
Some would argue that the amount of game time he has currently managed in Matt Taylor’s promotion-chasing team is far more substantial than he would have got under Lamouchi at Forest.
Loan spells are best served with lots of game time though and quite simply Richardson isn’t getting that with the Grecians.
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On Saturday he remained rooted to the bench yet again as Taylor’s team defeated Forest Green Rovers 1-0. With Exeter flying in the league, Richardson’s chances of more appearances are looking bleaker by the week.
January could well offer the academy prospect reprieve, especially if Forest’s fitness worries continue in defence, and in particular on the right-hand side.
Matty Cash is playing superbly well at right-back but that isn’t his natural position. He will take some ousting such as been his performance levels, but he is more accustomed on the wing.
Useful deputy
Carl Jenkinson and Tendayi Darikwa are both currently injured. If they are still not up to scratch come January then a window of opportunity could arise for the Forest youngster.
If he is going to sit on a bench or kick his heels in the stands then he might as well be doing it at Forest. He was on the bench for the league game against West Brom and the Carabao Cup game against Fleetwood back in August.
That would suggest that Lamouchi saw enough of the player during pre-season to suggest that he views him as a potential first-team player in years to come.
If a club comes forward willing to offer Richardson some time on the pitch then happy days. Failing that, Forest might be wise to utilise him in their own squad during the second half of the season.
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