Nottingham Forest want Sam Byram back at the City Ground next season, and it would appear the defender is keen on returning.
Byram was set to spend the whole campaign at Forest on loan from Premier League outfit West Ham United, before a serious knee injury in the early season Carabao Cup win over Newcastle robbed the Reds of the 25-year-old’s obvious talent.
After missing most of the season, he came through a couple of Under-23 outings, before making his first team return in the early April defeat at Sheffield Wednesday.
Having stepped up his rehabilitation, he then featured a further four times under boss Martin O’Neill in the closing stages of the Championship campaign.
“I need to play football and, you know, if Nottingham Forest offer me football next season, I would not turn that opportunity down,” Byram said last month.
It’s likely the former Leeds United academy graduate will be allowed to leave the London Stadium by Manuel Pellegrini this summer, opening the door to a potential return to the City Ground.
But first, Byram admitted that he does need to have a conversation with the club he joined for £4m from Leeds in January 2016.
“But I need to sit down in the summer with West Ham, because I do not know what their plans are for me,” he said.
“Nothing has been said yet about my future yet. As far as I am aware, I will head back to West Ham, speak with the manager and go from there.”
Byram, having been signed by Aitor Karanka last summer who departed early into the New Year while he was back at West Ham continuing his rehab, accepts that changes in the manager’s office are part and parcel of the game, and won;t play a part in his decision.
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“I think I was here briefly (before he went) and I got on well with Aitor, but this is just football. Managers come and go.
“In my past I have played under numerous different managers and you just have to adapt to the new manager’s ideas.”
