Martin O’Neill has praised Molla Wague, who he says continues to improve with every game at Nottingham Forest – but remains coy over his long-term plans the defender.
The on-loan Udinese defender has scored three goals in two Championship starts and two substitute appearances, including the winner against Swansea City last weekend.
O’Neill has been pleased with the contribution of the 28-year-old, who is currently on loan until the end of the campaign.
Given that Wague arrived at Forest short of match fitness, the Reds boss has been impressed by his performances in recent weeks and he has a good chance of partnering Yohan Benalouane in the heart of the back four against Rotherham this weekend.
But when asked how he viewed Wague’s long-term future beyond the end of his loan spell, O’Neill was not giving much away.
He said: “I certainly think he is definitely improving. He is getting better. I think he enjoys it.
“It is natural that you enjoy it if you are playing in the first team and you are doing fine. He has made a contribution to us, offensively, which is great.
“His main job is to try to keep centre-forwards at bay. He is making an improvement.”
With Michael Dawson, Tobias Figueiredo, Joe Worrall, Benalouane, Alex Milosevic and Michael Hefele all under contract for next season, Forest are well stocked with quality options in the centre of defence.
But Wague has impressed O’Neill, nevertheless.
“He has done very well indeed. He arrived at the last moment at a time when we had had problems at centre-back, in terms of injuries,” said O’Neill.
“He came in at the 11th hour and was not completely match fit; he had a few problems early on, which we rectified.
“But he has come into the side and done very well indeed. We had the joke last week that he had played two or three games and a handful of minutes and he is on course to be top scorer.
“That is good news for us, from that viewpoint. But it took him a little time to get the fitness up.
“Then, in the first few minutes of his full debut for us, against Ipswich, he might have cleared the ball (ahead of their goal). But he more than made up for that, by scoring the equaliser in that game and then getting an important winner for us last Saturday.”
The quality Matty Cash believes Nottingham Forest will need in spades to gatecrash play-offs party
Figueiredo and full back Sam Byram are both expected to be involved when the Reds under-23s face Burnley on Friday afternoon as they make their return from injury. Dawson is not yet ready to be involved, as he recovers from a hamstring problem.
