While Nottingham Forest forward Lewis Grabban snaffled up his tenth goal of the season as well as three points for the Reds, as they beat previously table-topping Sheffield United 1-0 at the City Ground and the £6m striker grabbed the spotlight again, Forest boss Aitor Karanka is delighted to have further strengthened his attacking arsenal with the capture of the Team Melli Striker, Karim Ansarifard.
Forest had to be patient while working through significant red tape to complete the signing of the 28-year-old, who had his contract with Olympiacos terminated in August, in order to facilitate his move to the Championship.
“I am really pleased to have signed him. I knew that the day would arrive,” said Karanka, who gave the player his debut as a substitute, deep into injury time. “The day has arrived yesterday, which was really good, given that we need him.
“The delay was to do with the work permit. I don’t know the exact details, but it was only ever a question of getting the right paperwork.”
I am just pleased to have him because, even in the two minutes he had on the pitch, he showed that he is crazy to play for this team.”
Karanka says Ansarifard is fit and ready to go – but says he will need some time to adapt to the Championship.
“He is fully fit and ready to go, but he will need time to settle in, having arrived in this league from another country,” said Karanka. “But he is a professional and he is a winner. I am positive.”
“He scored 17 goals for Olympiacos and he has quality. He is a good finisher.
“To score goals we need to get the ball into the box and you need players to be arriving into the box at the right time.
“We have good players and we are arriving at the right time. We have very good strikers. We have Lewis, we have Daryl (Murphy) and now we have Karim as well.
“Now we have another alternative. He is a good player and another player who is a very good person and a good teammate for the changing room.
“He only played one or two minutes, but the run he made in the last seconds can show you how hungry he is; how much he wants to help the team. “He is a good man and a good player, so I am really pleased with him.”
Karim made the cameo appearance with the minimal of preparation in the 90th minute of the game.
Three team Melli players play in the English leagues. Apart from Karim, Alireza Jahanbakhsh plays for Brighton and Saeid Ezatolahi plays for Reading in the Championship.
