Brighton and Hove Albion’s emergency fix has proved anything but – and he would hardly have solved Nottingham Forest’s injury crisis.
It initially seemed as if Nottingham Forest had missed a trick not challenging Championship rivals Brighton and Hove Albion for the signature of free-agent Vegard Forren in early March.
At the time, centre-backs Matt Mills, Jack Hobbs and Michael Mancienne were all out injured with Thomas Lam out of form and Damien Perquis out of favour. Therefore, the 29-year-old Norwegian international, available for nothing after leaving Molde in his homeland, appeared the ideal short-term solution.
That was certainly Brighton’s opinion. As reported by The Argus, they instead snapped up Forren with key centre-half Shane Duffy ruled out for the long-term with injury.
Yet, while The Seagulls are still soaring to promotion with the best defensive record in the division, this has nothing to do with the addition of Forren. Instead, 31-year-old German Uwe Hunemeier has stepped up commendably, starring alongside Lewis Dunk and providing the platform for three successive wins against Blackburn, QPR and Birmingham.
He even scored against the latter.
Forren, meanwhile, was forced to wait until Monday this week to pull on a Brighton shirt for the first time – in a 2-0 win against Stoke City for the club’s Under-23s.
Yes, the defender has struggled with injuries but the fact that a player signed as a short-term, emergency fix has not played a single league game suggests that the deal has been little more than a waste of time.
Furthermore, since Mark Warburton took charge at Forest, youngster Joe Worrall has stepped up commendably and Matt Mills appears to have returned to form, impressing in Saturday’s 2-0 win against Huddersfield.
Therefore, few at Forest will be losing too much sleep about their failure to bring Forren to the East Midlands.
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