Former Nottingham Forest boss Dougie Freedman has opened up on a conversation he had with Reds old boy Djamel Abdoun.
Freedman was appointed Forest manager in February 2015, replacing Reds legend Stuart Pearce in the City Ground dugout.
Abdoun signed for the Reds in 2013 from Olympiacos, but made just 22 league appearances in his debut season on Trentside before being loaned out to Belgian club Lokeren, after being told by Pearce he was free to find a new club.
The forward eventually returned to the City Ground, with new boss Freedman in charge, and was keen to impress.
Freedman has opened up on a conversation he had with Abdoun during pre-season training in 2015, where the Algeria international made a surprising claim.
“Abdoun did come to my office and tell me that he should be playing. He felt that he was the best player in the squad,” Freedman told The Athletic.
He added: “I told him that, if he really thought that, he should go and tell the rest of the squad. And to be fair to him, he did go down to the dressing room and tell the players exactly that.
“I remember a few of the senior boys laughing about it. To be fair, I had told him to go to the dressing room to say it, and he actually had the guts to do it. Unfortunately, our opinion was not the same as his!
“The other players were joking about it with him in training. We had a hard session that day. We did some three-v-three work and that is tough. It was not because of that — it was always the plan that day.
"But we had a proper session, one that sorts the men from the boys. He was right at the back of it: that rubberstamped where he was at in my mind.
“I came into the job the previous February (Abdoun left on loan the same day) and I put a lot into training. Training sessions were everything for me. They were my time with the players, without any of the background noise.
“When Abdoun, this little fella who was nine stone wet through, came back in pre-season and told me he thought he was the best player at the club, most people knew what was going to happen.”
Abdoun’s time with Forest came to an end that summer, leaving Trentside to sign a permanent deal with Greek club Veria.
