Reason for 27-year-old’s failure to secure Nottingham Forest exit revealed

Nottingham Forest’s Tobias Figueiredo was unable to secure a move away from the City Ground during the winter window due to his current side’s lack of available options in central defence, according to Record (via Nottinghamshire Live).

The 27-year-old was strongly linked with a return to Portugal, with Vitoria Guimaraes thought to have been readying an approach for him in the final days of last month.

However, that move could have only happened if Forest were willing to terminate Figueiredo’s contract in the East Midlands, a decision they may have been willing to take with his contract expiring in the summer and the defender unlikely to put pen to paper on a new deal at the club.

However, Joe Worrall is expected to be out for the next month with broken ribs and there were also injury doubts over the likes of Loic Mbe Soh and Rodrigo Ely, with their absence leaving Steve Cooper’s men short at the back despite the signing of Steve Cook in the early stages of January.

Ely actually went on to terminate his contract at the club yesterday, but even before then, a move looked difficult with Figueiredo ideally needed to provide depth despite being unlikely to appear regularly for the Reds between now and the end of the season unless there are more injuries.

Former AFC Bournemouth captain Cook’s arrival looked set to provide the Portuguese centre-back with a potential opportunity to make an early exit from the Midlands outfit – but the latter now remains at the club with the lack of available defensive options making the potential move to his home nation a ‘complicated’ one.

And it has turned out to be too complex for the 27-year-old to secure a transfer at this stage, even though he was reported to be warming to a transfer