Nottingham Forest released Jonjo Shelvey during the summer, despite initially announcing that he’d signed for Rizespor on loan.
That is according to The Guardian.
Given this pretty confusing situation regarding Shelvey and his Forest future, we’ve taken a closer look…
Shelvey was released by Forest in the summer
When Shelvey left the City Ground during the summer, it was claimed by official reports that he’d joined the Turkish outfit on loan.
Now, according to The Guardian, the player has signed a permanent deal with Rizespor and he won’t be back at Forest.
It has to be said that this is a strange situation and naturally it’s a little confusing as to why Forest felt the need to hide the fact they’d released Shelvey.
It’s claimed that the Reds weren’t able to loan out Shelvey as they’d already exceeded the permitted number of players to loan out.
FIFA rules stipulate that one seven players can be loaned out at one time, with this stopping clubs from hoarding players.
Forest did well to offload midfielder – but why the secrecy?
Given that Shelvey was handed a two-and-a-half-year deal in January 2023, it seemed for all the world that Forest would be stuck with Shelvey.
As a result, the club should have been shouting from the rooftops that they’d found a taker, so why didn’t they?
It’s hard to understand why the club’s official website posted a story saying he’d gone out on loan when in fact Shelvey had left Forest for the last time.
Steve Cooper – sacked by Forest in December – pushed hard to sign Shelvey. He was handed a contract worth £80,000-a-week and played just eight times before falling out with the 44-year-old.
It will remain a mystery as to why the club chose not to announce that Shelvey had left permanently.
However, it is at least one positive that his excessive salary is now off the wage bill and Forest must learn a lesson from this debacle.
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