Nottingham Forest manager Stuart Pearce has insisted that Dexter Blackstock will not be sent out on loan now that he has returned from a long-term layoff.
The striker has not played for Forest since October 2013 and suffered a serious knee injury which ended his temporary spell at Leeds United before Christmas.
Blackstock is now working his way back to fitness and it had been suggested that the Championship leaders would allow him to leave on an emergency loan to get some game time under his belt, but Pearce instead plans for him to continue his recovery in the Capital One Cup visit to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Pearce said in the Nottingham Post: "We will not send him out on loan, he is close to a return for us.
"He has played a 45 minute spell of a game, a 60 and a 90. We have a feeling he will feature, in some way, on Wednesday at Tottenham.
"It is always a big boost to get somebody back who has been out for such a long period of time. He will give us another option up front."
Blackstock has scored 32 goals in 116 appearances for Forest since joining permanently from Queens Park Rangers in 2009.
Joe Fish
