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Aitor Karanka admits he is having second thoughts about sending Ryan Yates out on loan – and that he is giving ‘careful’ thought to keeping him at Nottingham Forest.

The midfielder netted the only goal of the game at former club Scunthorpe, as the Reds continued their pre-season preparations with a solid 1-0 win.

Yates has looked bright during Forest’s friendly games and continued to impress with a well-taken first half finish at Glanford Park.

And Karanka says the 20-year-old is doing a good job of changing his mind about his future, having previously decided that another loan move would be the best option for Yates this season, following his spells at Notts County and Scunthorpe during the last campaign.

“I am thinking about that. He is changing my mind, because he is doing very well and he is a very good kid,” said Karanka.

“I need to think a lot now. At the beginning it was clear for me that he was going to go on loan. Because he needs to play games.

“But now, in this moment, I need to think about this carefully, because he is doing very well.

“I need to balance what is good for us and what is good for him I do not want to keep him with us, if he is not going to play. He can learn and he can improve with us.

“He has made it a difficult decision, because he is doing really well.”

(Image: Dan Westwell)

Karanka says he joked prior to the game with the Scunthorpe chairman Peter Swann that he was lucky to get Yates on loan last season.

“He looks like he belongs at this level. He improves every single day. He impressed me the first week I met him and he is still impressing me now, because he does improve all the time,” said Karanka.

“I was talking to the Scunthorpe chairman before the game and I told him he was lucky that I arrived as manager in January, if I had arrived before, he Ryan would have stayed with us for sure.

“I said since I met him that he is a very good player; he is a player who always wants to learn and improve every single day.

“He scored the goal today because he really wanted to score. That desire will give him the opportunity to be a very good footballer.”

Yates was replaced at half-time by the returning Jack Colback, who made his first appearance in a Forest shirt since returning to the club for a second loan spell.

“It is good to have Jack back again because he was really good for us last season. He wanted to join us again and I wanted him to come back myself,” said Karanka.

“I am really pleased, because he showed everyone last season how good he is on the pitch.

“He is not a player who maybe people can be impressed by, because he is not going to score a lot of goals – but he is a player who brings us balance on the pitch.”