Free-agent explains why Cooper didn’t want him at Nottingham Forest

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Luckless Rodrigo Ely has explained the role Steve Cooper had in his departure from Championship promotion pushers Nottingham Forest, speaking to EFE. 

History won’t look back all that fondly on the defender’s forgettable stint at the City Ground.

It seems a little unfair to place Ely in the sprawling pantheon of Nottingham Forest flops. Alongside the likes of Rafik Djebbour, Karim Ansarifard and Nicolao Dumitru.

But the fact remains that, when his contract was terminated in January, Ely departed having failed to make a single appearance in his four months on English soil. 

Injuries certainly played their part. 

The former AC Milan man, who arrived from La Liga outfit Alaves in September, was dogged by muscle problems throughout his time in Garibaldi red. 

But the departure of Chris Hughton didn’t help either. The manager who brought Ely to Nottingham received his P45 just two weeks after the 28-year-old centre-back put pen to paper. 

“I arrived on the last day of the transfer window,” Ely explains, via Mundo Deportivo. 

“I was injured and I didn’t have time to train. So we agreed that I would go through a pre-adaptation period of a month and a half. 

“But the coach who brought me in (Hughton) left. And they brought in another coach (Steve Cooper) with other ideas, more focused on young English players.” 

Where next for Rodrigo Ely?

There was not even the briefest hint of bitterness in Ely’s goodbye statement, however. The Brazil-born Italian bade a classy farewell to the supporters who stood by him during four months on the treatment table. 

Clearly, this divorce was an amicable one.

“I want to play,” Ely adds.

“We agreed that the best thing for me was to look for (another club). I feel ready and I want to play football. I’ve spent all this time without playing and I want to get on the field. 

“I have the desire to return to my country (Italy). But if there is an interesting project in Spain, obviously I will put it on the table, that is clear.”

Despite being held to a 0-0 draw with Preston North End on Tuesday night, Nottingham Forest are ninth in the Championship table. Just four points separate them from the top-six.