Cardiff City have omitted Lee Tomlin from their 25-man Premier League squad and Championship Nottingham Forest cannot come to his rescue.
Lee Tomlin was simply mesmeric at times during a loan spell at Nottingham Forest in the second half of last season. But the common consensus was that a return to the City Ground for the 2018/19 season would not make much sense.
Tomlin’s parent club, Cardiff City, had been promoted to the Premier League and the 29-year-old wanted to prove himself in the top flight after failing to make an impact during his forgettable spell at Bournemouth.
Forest, meanwhile, had signed plenty of creative players in his absence, the Portuguese trio Diogo Goncalves, Joao Carvalho and Gil Dias all arriving in the East Midlands. But, looking back, maybe a return to Forest was the right option after all.
The Nottingham Post reported at the end of last season that Aitor Karanka wanted to sign his former Middlesbrough play-maker on a permanent deal. But, with the transfer window shut until January, it is too late now.
And Tomlin has been left in limbo.
Neil Warnock has left the enigmatic attacker out of his 25-man Premier League squad, meaning Tomlin is stuck in the reserves until the New Year with no means of escape.
And just to make his situation even more frustrating, an out-of-form Forest side struggling for goals and inspiration in the Championship could have done with Tomlin’s ability to produce something out of nothing.
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