Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche has offered an encouraging update on the fitness of Super Eagles defender Ola Aina, following his recent appearance for the club’s U-21 side as he continues his recovery from a long-term hamstring injury.
Aina, 29, has been sidelined for several months after sustaining the injury during Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier against South Africa in Bloemfontein, where he was forced off inside the opening ten minutes of the 1–1 draw.
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The setback required surgery and ruled the former Chelsea defender out for an extended period, ultimately costing him a place in Nigeria’s final AFCON squad.
After returning to training with Nottingham Forest, Aina took a significant step towards full recovery last week when he featured for the club’s U-21 team.
He played 53 minutes in their 2–1 victory over Millwall U-21s, marking his first competitive action since the injury.
Speaking ahead of Forest’s Premier League fixture against Fulham, Dyche confirmed that Aina is steadily progressing, though caution remains the priority.
“It’s looking better,” Dyche said while addressing the club’s injury situation. “Ola is halfway through his progress in fitness.
” He is training more regularly with the team now, which is good, but it has been a long-term injury, so we have had to be careful.”
The Forest boss added that while Aina is back on the grass and increasing his workload, he is yet to regain full match sharpness.
“He is still a bit of a way off his true fitness. He has been out for a long time, and it takes even longer to reach that deep level of fitness, but he is making good progress,”
Dyche noted.
The coach also revealed that most of the squad has returned to training, with competition and intensity gradually increasing, a situation he described as healthy for the team.
Despite the positive signs, Aina is not expected to feature in competitive action for Nottingham Forest again until the new year, as the club continues to manage his recovery carefully.
For both club and country, the update will come as welcome news, with Forest hopeful of reintegrating the versatile defender fully in the second half of the season, while Nigeria monitor his progress ahead of future international commitments
