Harry Arter appears to have seen his Nottingham Forest career hit rock-bottom. The midfielder hasn’t been named in the Reds’ 25-man squad for the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign, despite Forest having four spaces.
The 32-year-old was sent back from Charlton where he spent the first half of the season. Johnnie Jackson chose not to keep him at The Valley and he returned to Forest halfway through his temporary stint in London.
Steve Cooper hasn’t fancied him though. It’s unclear whether or not he’s been training with the first team, although now that does seem unlikely given that he’s been omitted from the squad.
Football Insider claimed during January that Arter was close to a City Ground exit. They believed a club in the UAE were in advanced talks to take the midfielder on a permanent deal.
Now his future looks bleak on Trentside. He’s made just 14 appearances for Forest since arriving for a sizeable sum from Bournemouth in August 2020.
The official Nottingham Forest EFL squad:
Gaetan Bong, Jack Colback, Steve Cook, Keinan Davis, James Garner, Lewis Grabban, Ethan Horvath, Richie Laryea, Joe Lolley, Max Lowe, Scott McKenna, Xande Silva, Tobias Figueiredo, Cafu, Brice Samba, Jordan Smith, Djed Spence, Sam Surridge, Joe Worrall, Ryan Yates, Philip Zinckernagel.
Colback, Cook, Davis, Garner, Grabban, Lolley, Lowe, Smith, Spence, Surridge, Worrall and Yates are all considered home-grown players.
Under-21 contracted players:
Marcelo Saraiva, Fin Back, Josh Barnes, James Clarridge, Aaron Donnelly, Baba Fernandes, Billy Fewster, Alexander Gibson-Hammond, Ben Hammond, Oli Hammond, Riley Harbottle, Nicky Hogarth, Brennan Johnson, Ateef Konate, Julian Larsson, Loic Mbe Soh, Jamie McDonnell, Alex Mighten, Braian Ojeda, Detlef Esapa Osong, Jonathan Panzo, Rezart Rama, Jayden Richardson, Lewis Salmon, Sam Sanders, George Shelvey, Will Swan, Dale Taylor, Morgan Thomas-Sadler, Joe Watkins.
Arter on borrowed time at Forest
It simply hasn’t worked out for Arter since arriving at the City Ground. He has been way below the required standard to play in the Championship and it comes as no surprise that he’s not managed to get a club.
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Now, he will kick his heels on the fringes. Honestly, he doesn’t really have anyone to blame but himself. He could have made a real fist of things at Forest but downed tools when asked to play out of position under Chris Hughton.
Offloading him in the summer might not be easy either. He will still have another year on his contract and his £38,000-a-week salary won’t make him an attractive signing.