The latest Nottingham Forest news from NottinghamshireLive as the club’s record signing had his finest moment in a Reds shirt in the 3-1 win over Leeds United
Omari Hutchinson admits he has had to ‘show character’ after being omitted from Nottingham Forest’s Europa League squad.
The winger arrived in the summer as a club record £37.5m signing from Ipswich Town but is yet to make a Premier League start.
Indeed then boss Nuno Espirito Santo didn’t even name him in the 22-strong group submitted to Uefa for the Reds’ first European campaign in three decades.
As a result he has been limited to one start in the Carabao Cup and six appearances off the bench.
One of those came against Leeds United on Sunday when he replaced Nicolas Dominguez with the scores tied at 1-1 and only half an hour remaining.
The 22-year-old responded by sending in the cross from which Morgan Gibbs-White scored and then winning the late penalty as Elliot Anderson made the game safe.
Speaking to BBC Nottingham afterwards the former Chelsea trainee was asked about not being able to play in the Europa League.
“You’ve got to show that character really, you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” he said.
“You’ve got to wait for your time, I haven’t had a good pre-season, and I’ve barely played any matches.
“So right now I’m just trying to keep fit in training, do the extra runs and the extra bits after outside and just waiting for my chance.
“I’ve been working really hard in training and just waiting for my time so that’s good. I even spoke to the manager yesterday, he said, ‘Keep your head, your time’s coming. You’ve been working really hard’.
“Some of the boys as well, they want me to get on the pitch and play with them and today was a good day.
“It’s been a long time since I played, it feels like forever, but I’m just happy to get out there and show the fans what I’m about.
“I think you want to be versatile as a winger. You don’t want to be one sided, for a defender it’s very difficult to defend.”
Hutchinson was pleased he was able to have a positive impact in what turned out to be a first league win under Sean Dyche, one that drew Forest to within a point of escaping the bottom three.
“We needed that, I think we’ve been working really hard to get the three points at home as well, I think the subs today made a great impact and that’s what it’s all about really, I thought we’d done really well.
“It is a must-win, we’re home and we’ve got that home advantage and the crowd’s always showing amazing support, so I think just before the break as well it’s very vital that we got the three points.”
What role can Hutchinson have this season? Have your say here
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