It is a sight many Nottingham Forest fans have been waiting for – Joao Carvalho wearing a Reds shirt again.
And it seems the midfielder is pleased to be back, too.
Carvalho featured in Forest’s first pre-season friendly of the summer on Saturday as a mixture of first-team and youth players made the trip to Alfreton Town.
It was his first appearance in the Garibaldi since last September, having been out on loan at Spanish second division side Almeria.
As the visitors fielded two separate XIs at the Impact Arena he came on for the second half of a 2-1 win.
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And the club record signing has posted a picture of himself in action during the game on Instagram, writing: “First of the season @officialnffc.”
Carvalho has long divided opinion among Reds supporters, but plenty would like to see him given a chance by boss Chris Hughton in the upcoming campaign.
lubocf: great to have you back magic lad, hope you show everyone this season just how good you are
j_amescarroll: Welcome back, hopefully you get a good run of games pre season and get another chance this season, we lacked creativity all last year.
willbooth16: King
cla1renffc: So good to see you back
chris__78901: Hero x
gibboson8: Love to see it
nathanmeadofficial: Welcome back you legend!
kurtsmith68: My Portuguese Prince welcome back.
andrewspringhall: Good to see you @joao_carvalho in the @officialnffc kit again…. Let’s hope you wear it many times in the 21/22 season #nffcfamily
jayda_robinson: Play this man every single game @officialnffc
Carvalho’s loan spell at Almeria ended in disappointing fashion as they missed out on promotion, and an option to make his move permanent was not taken up.
It means he has been back training with Hughton’s squad as they prepare for the 2021/20 term.
The 24-year-old made 32 appearances in the league in Spain, 13 of those as a substitute, and was unable to find the back of the net.
He last featured in a competitive match for Forest in the League Cup defeat at Barnsley last year while Sabri Lamouchi was still in charge.
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Hughton will use pre-season to run the rule over Carvalho, along with the club’s other returning loanees.
He has previously said: “It is difficult to speak about things that happened when I was not here. But there is obviously a reason why he has not been here this season.
“All of that was before my time.
“But we have to make a judgment on him. We spend as much time as we can looking at videos of players. Whether they are potential signings or our players who are out on loan.”
Would you like to see Carvalho given a chance this season? Have your say in the comments below
