Nottingham Forest could be about to unearth the next gem from their academy.
Over the years, Nottingham Forest have become a pioneer for churning out talent from their academy and allowing them to flourish in the first-team.
Current players Joe Worrall and Ryan Yates’ path to the first team stemmed from excelling in the underage groups, earning a call-up to the senior squad and playing significant roles in the club’s upward trajectory, making a combined 391 appearances and counting.
On the other hand, the likes of Matty Cash and Brennan Johnson have come through the academy set-up, risen to stardom at the City Ground and then departed the club for pastures new having developed into high-value assets.
While Cash joined Aston Villa for £16m in 2020, Johnson’s electric performances in the Premier League last term earned him a £47.5m move to Tottenham this summer.
The talent being churned off the conveyor belt at Forest continues to overflow and the next highly-rated youngster hoping to make his mark in the first-team is 20-year-old winger Brandon Aguilera.
Who is Brandon Aguilera?
A Costa Rican international, Aguilera joined the Reds on a four-year deal from LD Alajuelense in July last year and was instantly loaned back out to Guanacasteca and then Estoril.
While those loans equipped the 20-year-old in how to deal with the hardships of senior football, his return to the City Ground has been well received by Steve Cooper, who spoke highly of the winger and the level of maturity he’s shown since moving to England.
He said: “We’ve been really impressed with him, to be honest – his level and his attitude. He’s not from round the corner, is he?! He’s come over here, and for him to settle in like he has, he has a maturity about him.
“He’s a young player who we are enjoying putting a programme in place for. But that will be with us for the medium-term until January, and then we will assess it again then.”
Cooper isn’t the only person to wax lyrical about Aguilera’s bright prospects, Forest players have picked up on his talents too with Moussa Niakhate dubbing him as a “baller” after he demonstrated some fancy footwork in one particular training session in the pre-season camp in Spain.
After shining bright under the watchful eyes of his teammates, he has since taken that momentum into this campaign, chalking up two goals and one assist in three Premier League 2 appearances, starring alongside the likes of Jamie McDonnell and Ateef Konate.
In the past, Cooper has shown he isn’t afraid of throwing youngsters in at the deep end and if Aguilera can continue this early season form, he could get rewarded with opportunities to impress in the first team, potentially rivalling summer signing Anthony Elanga.
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