John Percy shares what Joe Worrall did to help Nottingham Forest starlet during pre-season trip to Spain
09/04/2024 03:00 PM
Nottingham Forest let 24 players leave the club during the summer transfer window and one of those was defender Joe Worrall.
The stalwart academy graduate had fallen way down the pecking order and joined Burnley for an undisclosed fee to end a long association with the club.
Nuno Espirito Santo did mull over keeping Worrall but it was ultimately decided that he would depart with the player keen to play regular football.
Worrall made 226 appearances for the club, with 37 of those coming in the Premier League and he lived a dream come true with the club he calls his own.
Things went south for Worrall when he had a falling out with Steve Cooper. However, before his departure, he might have left a lasting impact on youngster Zach Abbott.
How Joe Worrall helped Zach Abbott in Spain
Abbott is the new kid on the block and he made his maiden senior start in the Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat against Newcastle last week.
He was taken on the pre-season tour to Spain by Espirito Santo and he got minutes in the three friendlies that were played out there.
John Percy was given access to the camp for The Telegraph and he’s shared what Worrall was tasked with doing with Abbott during the trip.
He told the Forest Focus podcast: “The vibe around the place in Spain – I’ve covered Forest for a long time and I’ve never seen anything like it.
“It was a really tight-knit group. Everyone was together, Joe Worrall was basically the bodyguard for Zach Abbott, the young lad, he was basically shadowing him everywhere he went.
“Clearly that was under the club’s orders so that was a great experience for him.”
Abbott can benefit from Worrall guidance
Okay, so the Premier League perhaps proved a bridge too far for Worrall but he will forever be given credit for leading the team to promotion during 2021/22.
He captained his boyhood club to a victory in a Wembley final and nobody will ever take that away from him.
Now, Abbott will have a chance to prove he can be the next player to walk the path from the academy to first-team stardom.
Going out of the Carabao Cup won’t help his chances of game time in the short term but there is now hope that he can get more minutes as a Forest player.
