Striker Keinan Davis was well versed in what to expect when he made the move to Nottingham Forest, courtesy of the lowdown from a former fans’ favourite.
The 23-year-old joined the Reds on the first day of the January transfer window, signing on loan from Aston Villa for the second half of the season.
He has quickly shown he has the makings of being a promising addition, putting in some solid performances and bagging his first goal in Tuesday night’s 3-0 win over Barnsley.
And the ease with which he has settled in was no doubt helped by a few words of advice from teammate Matty Cash, who left Forest for Villa Park in the summer of 2020.
“I talked to him about it before I signed,” Davis said. “He said, ‘Keinan, it’s just a massive club’. I already knew that, but he just said, ‘it’s unbelievable’.
“In December, building up to January, I was asking him what it was like and he was telling me lots of good things about the club.
“He sent me a message on Tuesday night saying, ‘the Forest boys are on fire’. He said ‘well done’ to me and the team.
“The first day I walked in, I got the feeling of a good team spirit. There’s a mixture of experienced players, with players like Grabbs (Lewis Grabban) and (Jack) Colback, and younger players. There’s a good balance.”
Davis has now made four appearances in the Garibaldi since putting pen to paper, having been struggling for game time at Villa.
Although yet to get a full 90 minutes under his belt, he is steadily building up his fitness after his last run-out for his parent club came as a late substitute back in November.
“I want to play games and help Nottingham Forest get back into the Premier League, building with the team,” said the forward.
“I’m definitely feeling the benefit of more game time.
“This is the most I’ve played in about three years, so it’s great to be out there a lot and get loads of games under my belt.
“It’s a good experience.
“When it gets to 60 or 70 minutes I start feeling it a bit. But with games every week, that will come along.”
Getting on the scoresheet should give him a confidence boost, too.
The first half strike at the City Ground was all of Davis’ making as he won the ball, before striding forward and beating the goalkeeper with a cool finish.
He teased: “I had a lot of time to think about it!
“It wasn’t like I could just shoot and then that was it - I had a lot of time before I got to the goal. I just composed myself and backed myself to score.
“We know we didn’t play our best on Tuesday, but we still got a good result, which is a good sign.
“We know we can do much better.”
