It may not be the most glamorous transfer of the summer, but the proverbial roller-coaster that has been Chris Forrester's career in English football has finally come to an end, as the Irishman signed a three-year deal with Aberdeen FC on Tuesday.
? BREAKING NEWS from Pittodrie
Aberdeen FC can this afternoon announce the signing of midfielder, Chris Forrester #StandFree pic.twitter.com/AJIjtutj34— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) June 5, 2018
A move to the Scottish domestic scene may be seen as a step down, or at the very least a sideways move from English football, but it is the right move for Forrester at the right time in his career after great things were expected of him in England's third tier.
The former St. Patrick's Athletic maestro had a great start to life at Peterborough United, scoring twice in his first 20 appearances following his move from the League of Ireland in 2015. His manager at the time, Dave Robertson, even compared him to Michael Carrick when rumours popped up that Everton were interested in him in early 2016.
So good was Chris Forrester, that he was given the captaincy, Kevin Kilbane tipped him to become a future Ireland international and Miguel Delaney wrote in the Sunday Independent in January 2017 that Premier League club West Brom were one of several clubs interested in his signature.
It turned out to be nothing more than a honeymoon period between the Dubliner and the Posh however, as Forrester drew the ire of his manager, Grant McCann, after he received a red card in a 2-0 loss to Walsall the very next month.
The writing appeared to be on the wall from that point onward, as McCann told the press that the matter would be "dealt with in-house".
Ahead of the new season Forrester was stripped of the captain's armband, made 29 appearances in the league, seven of which came off the bench in the 46 game season.
A product of Bohemian FC's youth teams, Forrester was linked with a move back to the League of Ireland late last year, as Dundalk were reportedly interested in signing him. Those rumours were quickly doused by Peterborough, who wanted to keep him until the summer at least.
The turbulence with which his time in the lower reaches of the English Football League became synonymous came to a steady halt with yesterday's news that he is now a Don for the foreseeable future.
Followers of Irish domestic football will believe that Forrester is capable of playing at a higher level than the Scottish Premiership, although he will be part of a squad that is hoping to challenge for major honours while making a decent run in the Europa League. At the very least playing for Aberdeen is better than barely playing for Peterborough.
Whether or not the move to a club in Scotland will be enough to catch the eye of Martin O'Neill is another matter entirely. Chris Forrester joins his compatriot Adam Rooney, who has struggled to get into the Republic of Ireland squad despite the lack of attacking options at the manager's disposal. The striker has scored 87 goals during his four year stint at the club.
O'Neill evidently does not give the top tier of Scottish much weight when it comes to international football, although the recent debut for Graham Burke of Shamrock Rovers and call-up for Bohemian's goalkeeper Shane Supple may give the Dubliner some hope of breaking into the squad.
That may be putting the cart before the horse, of course. For now, all Forrester needs to do is get his career back on track and reach the potential that so many of his admirers envisioned. Aberdeen, a club trying to establish themselves as the second best team behind Celtic and ahead of Rangers, may well be the right place for that.
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