With a player who left Nottingham Forest this summer now shining in the Champions League, the temptation would usually be to ask why Nuno Espirito Santo let him go.
But the two-time European Champions know from experience that, no matter how talented a footballer might be, sometimes the shoe just doesn’t fit.
Nuno Tavares struggled for fitness and form at Nottingham Forest but is now blossoming into one of the most influential full-backs in Italy with Lazio. Ibrahim Sangare’s Forest career appears to be going only one way amid another injury blow.
Odysseas Vlachodimos, Emmanuel Dennis, Loic Bade and Jesse Lingard, meanwhile, are all highly-talented players who, for whatever reason, just didn’t work out at the City Ground.
Now, Remo Freuler certainly enjoyed more positive moments in Garibaldi red than Vlachodimos, Dennis, Bade and the now Korea-based Lingard.
The experienced Swiss playmaker was once the glue that held a thrilling Atalanta side together. And, in his early days in England, the intelligence, aggression and wisdom that made Freuler such a hit under Gian Piero Gasperini looked set to make him a bit of a load-bearing pillar at Forest too.
Remo Freuler shining in Champions League after Nottingham Forest exit
“I don’t think it went badly in Nottingham,” he would explain to Corriere dello Sport; A fall-out with Steve Cooper brought a premature end to Freuler’s time in England.
“First, [Cooper] made me captain. Then, I don’t quite know what happened. I spoke to him, he didn’t explain to me exactly what was going wrong and by the end, I think we were on a slightly different wavelength.”
There were certainly never any doubts about Freuler’s ability as a footballer.
There is a reason why the 32-year-old is currently playing Champions League football and holding his own against some of the finest midfielders on the continent, after all.
Freuler earned Forest £3.4 million when he joined Bologna as part of the deal that took Nicolas Dominguez in the other direction. And, on Wednesday night, he played 84 minutes as the Rossoblu took on Liverpool at Anfield.
Bologna would not do like Forest di and claim a famous win at Anfield. But they certainly made Arne Slot’s team sweat, forcing Alisson Becker into several saves while nearing matching their hosts in the possession stakes.
The the ‘high-quality performance’ Freuler produced – to quote Il Resto del Carlino – looks all the more impressive when you consider he was initially expected to miss out through injury.
Former Forest ace hailed as he shines against Liverpool
“He recovered from his ailments against and kept his place, offering a high-quality performance in which, as usual, he didn’t hold back,” Il Resto write. “[Freuler] put himself at the service of the team, offering all his wealth of international experience.
“Freuler showed great experience and stamina against Liverpool at Anfield, despite Bologna’s defeat.”
“Heart, soul, a point of reference for Bologna. In one word? Captain,” add Tuttomercatoweb, handing Freuler the joint-best rating of any Rossoblu player.
“He plays a generous game, all over the pitch, running for three.”
Freuler, like many of those countless Nottingham Forest signings since the summer of 2022, simply didn’t work out at the City Ground. That can happen in football.
But, quite clearly, one ill-fated spell in England does not a bad player make.
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