Nottingham Forest's Zach Abbott on pestering Milenkovic, facing City and a valuable parking spot

New York Times

3 days ago

At the age of 19, defender Zach Abbott has already started in an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley.
He also played in Nottingham Forest's Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle United last August — but his biggest moment at the City Ground came in the final for the Premier League International Cup, an under-23 competition, in May, when the central defender calmly netted the winning penalty in the shootout against Lyon before being mobbed by his team-mates.
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♬ original sound – Nottingham Forest
Abbott has been part of the first-team squad at Nottingham Forest for more than a year, having first trained with the senior group towards the end of 2023-24. But he has not let his rise alter his grounded attitude.
Last season, one of the perks of being promoted to the first-team squad was being given his own parking space at the Nigel Doughty Academy.
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Abbott can see the training ground from the window of his flat, just a few hundred yards away — but he still regularly drove to training, so he could give a lift to some of the other young players, who had not yet been given a space.
A Premier League debut has not yet come, and the arrival of Jair Cunha from Botafogo in June has made Abbott's road to the Forest's first team more challenging.
Fortunately, Abbott is not one to be intimidated by his rivals. Instead, he is determined to learn from them. Forest's central defensive duo, Murillo and Nikola Milenkovic, established themselves as one of the Premier League's best partnerships last season. Abbott, who was given a new contract in July that runs until 2029, has seen that as an opportunity, rather than a problem.
'I try to involve myself in everything I can. I try to learn from Murillo and Milenkovic,' Abbott told The Athletic. 'They are top of the top and it is brilliant picking little bits up off them, just being around them. I want to build my own play into becoming a Premier League player.
'They are all good characters (in the Forest dressing room), massively so. They take me under their wing. They know I have to make my own way, so there is a balance there. They let me make my own mistakes. But as soon as they see anything that they can help me with, they all jump in.
'Milenkovic has played in World Cups. That is where I want to be. What better way to get there than to be around him every single day? Players like him might get annoyed by the amount that I pester them and ask things. But I like to learn.
'I know I am going to be on my own at some point. I will not have people around me all the time. I need to learn these things myself, without always having people around me to help. If I can magpie little bits of information off these players now, while I have the opportunity, I am only going to improve, aren't I?'
The experienced Willy Boly and another Brazilian, Morato, will also provide competition for Abbott, but the fact Forest will have the added challenge of European competition to contend with might work in his favour. Forest hope to be in a position where Nuno can change his entire team, should he choose to do so, in the Europa League. The Forest manager may also be tempted to switch to a three-man central defence at times.
Abbott, who has represented England at every age group from under-16 through to under-19, remains a useful man to have around for another reason.
In European competition, there is space for eight homegrown players in every 25-man squad — and four of those must be homegrown at the parent club. At Forest, Ryan Yates and Abbott are the only two first-team players to have come through the Nigel Doughty Academy, although backup 'keeper Aaron Bott would also qualify.
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Yates has also been a mentor to Abbott in the dressing room. 'He is where I want to be. He is a figure who will help me with advice,' says Abbott. 'Even away from the pitch he will give me advice on how to deal with certain situations. He has taught me a lot.'
Within the academy, Yates has long been the example the coaches point to when convincing youngsters of what is possible if they work hard. Increasingly, Abbott is being used as a reference point, too.
At the senior level, Nuno has repeatedly described Abbott as a valuable 'option'.
Abbott will go into the new campaign having learned a great deal, despite his relatively limited opportunities on the pitch. His most recent start — in that FA Cup semi-final at Wembley — saw him adapt to playing at right-back, rather than in the centre of defence. He let nobody down. He certainly played with sufficient composure to suggest he is ready to add to his three first-team appearances.
'I learned loads about myself. I learned that I can take that step and be at that standard. It is a confidence lifter, knowing that you go into things without fear and enjoy them. I want to play as many positions as possible, central defender, right-back, wherever… I just want to learn on the pitch,' said Abbott, who found himself up against City stars such as Omar Marmoush, Jack Grealish and Mateo Kovacic.
'You have to be confident and believe in yourself. You have to have the conviction that you are doing and saying the right things, while also being humble enough to learn from and respect your elders. People might believe that it is daunting going into a dressing room like that but I never felt that way. I relished it. I tried hard to get involved from the start. I think you have to do that. If you do not do that, you can fall away.
'Nuno is very helpful. He is very good. He always gives you useful information. He is somebody that you can learn a lot from. I learn a lot from his training and try to implement it into my game. When I do get called upon, I want to be able to perform to the best of my ability.'