Nottingham Forest forward Jamie Paterson, on loan at Championship rivals Huddersfield Town, is free to leave the City Ground on a permanent move this month according to Nottingham Post. Huddersfield do have the option to buy that loan move permanent, but Brentford are also said to be interested in bringing Paterson to their club.
The 24-year-old, who has been in and out of the team under David Wagner with the Yorkshire club, but Dougie Freedman acknowledged that the player himself will have a big say on where his next move lies. He penned a loan move to John Smith’s Stadium in September after Freedman admitted that he will struggle for regular first-team football.
The interest from Brentford isn’t a major surprise, as prior to joinng Forest, Paterson played for Walsall, who was managed by current Bees boss Dean Smith at the time. He then moved for £1million in the summer of 2013 and Smith is said to be keen to link up with the player once again. Freedman isn’t aware of specific interest from Brentford, but accepts there is interest,
“I have heard there is interest, absolutely, there has been some agent chatter about it – but there has been no official contact from Brentford at all.
I did tell Jamie that I did not see him having a lot of game time here and, to be fair to the kid, he chose to go to Huddersfield to try to get that. If anything happens, I will tell him about it first and see what he wants to do.
I cannot guarantee anyone that they will play here. Unfortunately Jamie seems to want that, but I am not the kind of guy to give anyone that. If a bid does come in, we will address it with Jamie first, then we will see what the outcome is.”
Paterson has struggled with injuries during his time at Huddersfield as well, but now appears to have shaken off those issues and is no fully focused on his football once again. It will be interesting to see where his next move is. Clearly he has no long-term future at Nottingham Forest, but will the rotation policy at Huddersfield under Wagner suit him as well? Brentford could be the fresh challenge he needs and if they lose Alan Judge, then he would be a decent start to try and replace him.
