Nottingham Forest have enjoyed a decent 2019/20 campaign and the Reds would dearly love to see the current campaign played to a finish.
Forest were beaten 3-0 by Millwall at the City Ground prior to the widespread global health pandemic putting a halt to proceedings.
Sabri Lamouchi’s team were nicely poised for a title at the play-offs, however, sitting pretty in fifth place in the Championship table.
One main reason for their lofty league placing has been the form of defender Joe Worrall.
He returned in the summer from a loan spell at Rangers and supporters began predicting what sort of role the academy graduate would play under the new manager.
After 37 league games, the Hucknall-born star has not only played in them all but he’s also featured during every single minute of the league campaign so far.
Before heading to Ibrox the strapping central defender had played 58 times for the Reds, largely under the management of Mark Warburton.
The man who replaced him, Aitor Karanka, didn’t fancy him though and some eyebrows were raised when he was allowed to head north of the border.
Under the guidance of Steven Gerrard, he has developed into a central defender with all the attributes to go to the top.
During the January transfer window, Arsenal were cited with interest and it’s easy to see why.
Worrall is the epitome of a ball-playing centre-back. He is good with both feet, has superb positional sense and will throw his body on the line for the sake of three points.
The 23-year-old isn’t without his imperfections but that is expected from a player still learning his way. One weakness this season has been highlighted when he has come up against a big target man. Matt Smith, Steven Fletcher and Lukas Jutkiewicz have all enjoyed games against Worrall this season.
Despite that, Worrall would still be an outside bet for Player of the Season when it comes to giving such an accolade out.
Improvement
The work done by Rangers shouldn’t be underestimated. Although he occasionally came in for some criticism from their supporters, the expectation level of the club has clearly put him in good shape ahead of a return to Forest.
Gerrard was full of praise for the youngster and he was the first choice alongside Connor Goldson throughout the campaign.
After a game with Aberdeen, he told the club’s official website that Worrall had been ‘terrific’. On current form, he is living up to such a remark.
Forest will hope that the interest from Arsenal wavers and that he remains a mainstay in the side for years to come.
Worrall is very much one of Nottingham Forest’s own.