Departed Nottingham Forest striker enjoys debut to remember

Add as preferred source on Google

Nottingham Forest allowed Sam Surridge to leave the club during the summer transfer window and he’s already making waves with his new club. The striker debuted last night for Nashville as they defeated Club America on penalties.

The MLS outfit were heading out of the competition after a 94th-minute penalty had left them trailing 2-1. Surridge popped up, however, with a header in the ninth minute of injury time to send the Nashville fans wild.

The 24-year-old wasn’t finished there either. In the penalty shootout, he stepped up and scored with a brilliantly taken panenka-style spot-kick.

Surridge was perhaps a surprise departure from the Forest squad this summer. The Reds only have Taiwo Awoniyi and it was thought he might be kept until a replacement was signed.

Steve Cooper didn’t stand in his way of regular football though. Last season, the striker started just once for the Reds and that came on the opening day of the campaign.

Surridge did manage to score a Premier League goal during the campaign. He bagged an equaliser against Bournemouth to give Forest a valuable point.

In truth, he never really cut it in the Premier League. At 24-years-old, the time was right for him to be playing regular football and he will now hope for more good nights with Nashville.

Surridge scores first goal since leaving Forest

This will give the player a huge confidence boost. Sitting on the sidelines last season won’t have helped his development and hitting the ground running would be ideal at Nashville.

His penalty was intriguing. He missed his spot-kick in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup last term as Forest eventually reached the semi-final.

Surridge did a job for Forest. He was a good professional and during the promotion-winning campaign of 2021/22, he bagged eight goals including a scintillating hat-trick against Swansea.

The Reds will go in a different direction this season. Awoniyi will likely lead the line again but another option will likely come in and replace Surridge at some point.

Forest fans will continue to watch Surridge and his career path very closely. At Nashville, he should be very capable of proving himself instantly as a quality performer.