Football League World
·16 February 2022
Football League World
·16 February 2022
In what seemed like a strange deal at the time, Nottingham Forest acquired Tunisian international Mohamed Drager on transfer deadline day last August – despite already having a plethora of right-backs.
Chris Hughton had already brought Jordi Osei-Tutu in on loan from Arsenal and was set to add Middlesbrough’s Djed Spence to his ranks as well – Drager made it three players of the same position arriving in the same window.
And when you saw what club Drager was arriving from then you could see why the deal was done – he played eight times in the league for Greek giants Olympiakos – owned by Forest chief Evangelos Marinakis – before making the move to England.
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Despite his arrival at the City Ground though, Drager was never close to getting in Hughton’s, nor Steve Cooper’s side when he arrived in late September, in-fact he only appeared on the bench for a Championship match once against West Brom.
Drager played twice in the Premier League 2 competition against Burnley and Stoke’s under-23 sides, but with his services no longer required at the Tricky Trees the 25-year-old was able to secure a loan move to Swiss Super League side Luzern until the end of the season, two days after the English transfer window shut.
His lack of game-time on British shores has not harmed him over in Switzerland though, as Drager has gone straight into their starting line-up and made an immediate impact.
In his debut against Lugano, Drager scored a goal from distance to equalise for his side, which despite being on the losing side was a perfect personal start to his life in mainland Europe, and then in the following match – a cup clash against Biel-Bienne, the Tunisian scored his second goal in as many matches.
And then back in league action this past weekend against Sion, Drager provided the cross for the only goal of the game, scored by Asumah Abubakar.
Drager is clearly thriving in Switzerland and it remains to be seen if he will be given a chance next season if he continues to impress, given that it’s unlikely that Djed Spence will be sticking around at Forest.
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