Chris Hughton will hand Nottingham Forest full-back Jordan Gabriel the opportunity to impress when he returns from a valuable loan spell at promotion pushing Blackpool.
The 22-year-old defender has become a firm part of Neil Critchley’s squad, helping the Tangerines to third place in League One, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion to the Championship to Peterborough United, but currently in pole position in the play-offs.
Gabriel, who mas made 17 starts and nine sub appearances in the league this term, moved to Bloomfield Road just as Hughton came in at the City Ground where Cyrus Christie had already been brought in on a season-long loan from Fulham – the former Coventry City man going on to establish himself in the side and being virtually ever present for Forest.
The experienced right-back’s future is uncertain, however, and although Christie is out of contract in the summer, Fulham have an option to extend his deal by a further 12 months.
And with the Cottagers struggling in the Premier League’s relegation zone and looking likely to drop back down to the Championship, the 28-year-old might well be required back at his parent club next season.
Either way, the door has been left wide open for Gabriel to impress on his return from a big season in his development, that is set to continue for a few weeks yet with the chance of getting a promotion on his CV.
“He’s another one who will come back on the first day of pre-season,” Hughton said, as reported by Football League World.
“With Jordan, he’s another one who’s played fairly regular in League One, however there was a period of time where he was battling with another lad at right-back.
“He’s in a team who are in a very good position in their league, and that will give him an opportunity to play in some big games which will help him going forward.
“He’ll return to pre-season training and it will give me a really good opportunity to have a look at him.”
