OPINION
Poor old Sam Byram – first West Ham United farm him out on loan, then he gets himself injured and is sidelined for eight months.
No player wants to endure such an extended period of time out of action, but that was a distant memory for Byram after he made his comeback for the senior Forest team on Tuesday night – even if they did end up losing 3-0 to Sheffield Wednesday.
The 25-year-old looked like that he had never been away for Forest with his impressive outing, and he was definitely as good on this return as he had been back in August before he got laid off with injury.
One person who will be particularly over the moon with this head-turning display is Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini, who running out of options at right-back seeing as Pablo Zabaleta’s contract runs out this summer.
He needs someone to challenge Ryan Fredericks for the role, and based on this performance, the signs are looking good for Byram at the moment. If he can maintain this type of form, then there is no doubt that Pellegrini will look to keep him at the club rather than loan him out.
His injury meant that he was facing a fight to save his Hammers career, but that does not seem to be the case now. If he can show such quality after facing such a long time away from action, then keeping him must be a no-brainer.
The loan player will have got a huge boost in confidence after this match, and Pellegrini will have cast one eye over his Tuesday outing. If anything, Fredericks will be a little worried that Byram made such an assured return.
Forest may have lost by three goals, but Byram definitely showed his class.
