Nigel Worthington still hopes he can lure Jonathan Greening back to York City.
The 34-year-old began his career at the Minstermen, having developed through the youth ranks to make 25 league appearances for the first team. This was enough to catch the eye of Manchester United, who paid around £1.5million to hand him a dream move to Old Trafford in 1998.
Greening spent three years with the Reds without ever establishing himself as a regular, appearing just 14 times in the Premier League, but he does have a UEFA Champions League medal to show for his time as he was an unused substitute in the 1999 final versus Bayern Munich.
The former England Under-21 international left Manchester for Middlesbrough in 2001, and he has also gone on to appear for West Bromwich Albion, Fulham, Barnsley, and his current club, Nottingham Forest, for whom he has made just five league appearances for this season.
York, now of League Two after earning promotion from the Blue Square Premier last term, have made an approach to take Greening back on loan. And although Forest have rejected this offer, manager Worthington is not prepared to give up the hunt just yet.
“We tried to bring him to the club and made the phone call,” he told the York Press. “It’s not happening because they want to keep him with the rest of the squad. I will keep tabs on his situation though next week because you never know what can change in this game.”
York are currently fighting to avoid an instant return to the non-league scene, having not collected maximum points since their 3-0 win against Burton Albion on January 1. They have lost eight of their following 15 matches, and sit two points from safety and just one ahead of bottom-placed Aldershot Town, who also have a game in hand over the Bootham Crescent club.
