Nottingham Forest have had some pretty poor strikers in their time, with Rafa Mir right towards the top of the list. Now, he’s busy scoring goals in La Liga with Sevilla and that will bemuse supporters.
The man who won Olympic gold with Spain in the summer joined Forest in the summer of 2019. He played 13 times for the club, failing to score a single goal for the Reds.
Sabri Lamouchi opted to end his loan spell during January and that was music to the ears of Forest supporters. He headed back to Wolves, before being sent on loan to Huesca of the Spanish second division.
There must be something in the water in Spain. Since heading to Mediterranean climates, he’s been unable to stop scoring and in the summer earned himself a big move.
At Huesca he helped the club to promotion to La Liga, scoring a total of 25 goals in 57 appearances spread across two different loan spells.
In the summer, Wolves opted to offload him permanently with Sevilla parting with a whopping £13.5 million to secure his services.
It’s fair to say that he’s already repaying the faith shown by the Spanish outfit. Yesterday, he netted his third goal in as many starts, scoring the winner against Celta Vigo.
What went wrong for Mir at Forest?
He didn’t get many chances to play but for whatever reason, there was a real issue with him in the Championship. He never got going and ultimately left to be considered a flop.
Mir has had the last laugh though. Whilst Forest battle their way up the Championship table, Mir is busy preparing to face Lille in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old was only ever really added a backup option by Forest. Lewis Grabban was the main talisman, although he failed to make an impact when he was called upon.
Football really is bizarre at times. Forest fans anticipated a career of relative struggle for Mir after his abysmal spell on Trentside.
Instead, he’s left Wolves, looks confident in Spain and is now scoring goals for a team playing in the Champions League.
Forest fans might continue to be surprised by Mir. Given his age he could go to another level and as a result, it’ll be really interesting to see how his career pans out from here.