Nottingham Forest must do whatever necessary to secure Tobias Figueiredo stay

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Nottingham Forest completed an interesting signing in January, with the recruitment of Portuguese defender Tobias Figueiredo from Sporting Lisbon. The 24-year-old, who featured for Portugal at the Olympics last summer, is obviously talented.

But could he cut it in the physical world of Championship football?

So far the answer is a resounding yes.

Figueiredo has been in fine form for Nottingham Forest lately. The Portugal star played a pivotal role in Aitor Karanka’s men keeping clean sheets against Derby County and Norwich in their last two outings.

Now, it is being reported that Nottingham Forest have a deal in place to sign Figueiredo permanently. According to A Bola the defender cost Forest a loan fee of €200,000 (£177,000) in January. The deal which saw him join Nottingham Forest also included a buying clause of €2.3 million (£2 million). A Bola now reports that the clause is a mandatory one, should Figueiredo play a certain amount of games for Forest this season.

The report does not disclose how many games it is the 24-year-old needs to play for Nottingham Forest’s obligation to be activated. It is safe to assume the number is likely to be a round figure. Usually such agreements involve 10 or 15 games being played before a deal becomes permanent in the summer.

So far Figueiredo has played just six times for Nottingham Forest. Based on the evidence of those displays Forest must hope that he reaches the amount necessary to earn the permanent move.

At just £2 million the Portuguese defender looks an absolute steal based on his current form. First of all he is versatile, capable at both centre-back and left-back. At just 24-years-old Figueiredo could easily become the long-term centre-back partner for homegrown defender Joe Worrall. 

Nottingham Forest and Karanka must ensure they do what is necessary to tie down Figueiredo to a long-term stay at the City Ground. If they do not, then plenty of other Championship teams will be sniffing around to punish their mistake.