Zach Abbott, one of Nottingham Forest’s top players, receives enormous help from Joe Worrall. In the offseason

Zach Abbott, one of Nottingham Forest’s top players, receives enormous help from Joe Worrall. In the offseason

Joe Worrall, a defender, was one of the 24 players that Nottingham Forest let to depart during the summer transfer window.

After a lengthy tenure with the team, the dependable academy graduate had descended far down the ladder and left to join Burnley for an undisclosed sum.

After giving Worrall some thought, Nuno Espirito Santo decided to let him go since he was eager to play regular football.

Worrall lived the life of his dreams playing for the team he calls his own, making 226 appearances overall, 37 of which came in the Premier League.

For Worrall, things took a bad turn when he and Steve Cooper fell out. But before he went, he might have had a lasting effect on Zach Abbott, the young player.

How Joe Worrall helped Zach Abbott in Spain

Abbott is the newest player on the team, and last week’s Carabao Cup penalty shootout loss to Newcastle was his first start as a senior.

In the three friendlies that were played there, he played minutes. Espirito Santo took him on the preseason tour to Spain.

John Percy of The Telegraph gained access to the camp and informed Abbott of the tasks Abbott could anticipate Worrall to complete there.

As someone who has covered Forest for a long time, he remarked of the Forest Focus podcast, “The vibe around the place in Spain—I’ve never seen anything like it.”

The group was quite close-knit. All of them were gathered together. Zach Abbott, the young man, had Joe Worrall acting as his bodyguard, following him around at all times.

“It was obviously done on the club’s orders, so that was a really positive experience for him.”