There is excitement in the air at Nottingham Forest ahead of the Europa League opener against Real Betis, but Danny Murphy feels sorry for one star despite the positivity.
Forest are third favourites to win the Europa League after a summer of impressive investment at the City Ground, leaving the Reds with a squad that is stronger than the majority of the competition.
Nowhere is this strength clearer than in defence, where the issue of Ola Aina’s injury has been quickly solved by Oleksandr Zinchenko being added to the Europa League squad.
Not everyone can play, though, and Danny Murphy has admitted that he feels sympathy for a Forest star who looks unlikely to feature heavily in the Europa League campaign.
Danny Murphy admits sympathy for Ryan Yates
Forest’s first game of the league phase will be against Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis, arguably their toughest challenge of the eight fixtures.
Therefore, Ange Postecoglou and the Reds will want to put their best foot forward and play a strong side out in Seville, leaving the likes of Ryan Yates to observe from the bench.
The Forest Academy graduate’s lack of minutes may be disappointing on a sentimental level for fans, with Murphy sharing this feeling on talkSPORT.
He said: “He’s actually unfortunate, Yates, because he’s a victim of their success. He’s not going to start many games now and he hasn’t really played much this season. […] It’s an unfortunate thing because he’s a bit of a legend at Forest, he’s come through the leagues with them.
“[…] Unfortunately, as teams have success, those types of players just get squeezed out season by season, but hopefully he’ll maybe get some minutes in this European game.”
Yates has featured in two of Postecoglou’s three games so far, so he is getting some opportunities, but is clearly behind the likes of Douglas Luiz and Elliot Anderson in the pecking order.
Things could be about to get worse for Yates, though, when considering that Nicolas Dominguez is edging ever closer to returning to the pitch.
Nicolas Dominguez could deny Ryan Yates more opportunities
In theory, Yates provides a battling quality that the more attack-minded midfielders cannot match. However, with Dominguez’s return now imminent, the Argentine star can offer the very same attributes.
Dominguez has rejoined full training with the Forest squad after suffering a meniscus ligament injury that kept him out for the entirety of pre-season.
Therefore, he’ll need time to regain match fitness, but in terms of what he can offer the squad, it’s hard to look past Dominguez as a stronger option than Yates.
Squad registration rules will dictate that Yates will always have opportunities to feature for Forest, but his role is unlikely to improve as the Reds look to progress.
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