Former Nottingham Forest captain Lewis Grabban claims that head coach Steve Cooper 'wanted' the skipper to stay at the club for this season following Premier League promotion.
Back in mid-July, it was made clear in a statement that the 34-year-old had 'confirmed his departure' after his Reds contract had expired at the end of June. The 34-year-old had been in talks over a contract extension to stay at the City Ground but eventually ended a four-year association with the club and has since signed for Saudi Arabian side Al Ahli.
Grabban missed the latter stages of last season, including the play-offs, with a hamstring injury but more than contributed to the Premier League promotion campaign with 12 goals in the Championship. The striker was, though, fit enough to scale the Wembley Stadium steps to lift and has admitted that what the future held was on his mind at that moment.
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“As we celebrated at Wembley, my full intention was to sort something out. I wanted to have another crack at the Premier League with Forest,” Grabban told The Athletic .
He added, after revealing that winning promotion with the Reds was "always in (his) mind" since arriving back in 2018: “I was out of contract, but I had already been discussing with the manager what his thoughts were. He wanted me to stay at the club, and we discussed what I wanted… and we were in a similar place. I wanted to be with Forest.”
Grabban, having dispelled speculation that a lack of promised play time stopped an extension being agreed amid his belief that he would have "featured in every game" for Forest so far this season had he stayed, clarified: “It just did not come to fruition. We were not able to agree on an extension. It just didn’t go in the direction I thought it would to make the deal possible.”
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