His team-mates are laughing, playfully shoving one another and preparing to flash their best smiles.
It is team photograph day at Nottingham Forest, and despite overcast weather at the training ground there is a feelgood atmosphere among the squad. Everyone seems upbeat, except one. Standing alongside the other goalkeepers in the faint autumnal cold, Evan Horvath cannot feign a sunny disposition.
The U.S. goalkeeper, who features in several parts of his club’s behind-the-scenes video of the photograph day, scowls, grimaces and, in the end, when the shutter snaps, simply stares deadpan at the camera.
Like a reluctant spouse cajoled into attending a party where everyone else is having a good time, by the end he just seems relieved it is over and time to go.
For Horvath, his time to go was just over a month ago when it became apparent he would not be playing many minutes for Steve Cooper’s side during their second season back in the English top flight.
But transfer deadline day came and went with the 28-year-old still a Forest player, in theory, but left out of the club’s 25-man Premier League squad.
On Thursday, Horvath was once again included in Gregg Berhalter’s USMNT group for forthcoming friendlies with Germany and Ghana. But his limbo at club level has cast a mark over his season after he played a huge part in Luton Town’s promotion to the Premier League last term.
The Colorado native has never been a regular at Forest after joining in 2021. He has only played 11 times for the club, but after 51 appearances in all competitions for Luton last season (and keeping 20 clean sheets) he was hoping for more than being reduced to a peripheral figure at the City Ground.
The initial thought, based on numerous conversations with Luton, was that they would sign the goalkeeper, who had been such an integral part of their promotion, permanently.
Town had an option to sign Horvath for £1.5million ($1.8million) but, after their play-off final success, they changed their minds, deciding even that relatively modest fee represented too much of a chunk from their limited transfer budget.
At that stage, Rob Edwards side hoped to sign Republic of Ireland keeper Mark Travers on loan from Bournemouth and experienced 36-year-old Asmir Begovic on a free transfer, saving themselves valuable funds.
Neither deal materialised and Edwards’ side moved for Blackburn Rovers’ 30-year-old Belgian Thomas Kaminski.
For their part, Forest discussed offering Horvath, who is out of contract in the summer, a new deal to return and provide back-up to a new first-choice keeper, but he respectfully declined. Horvath desperately wants to play first-team football every week, a fact which makes his predicament harder.
Nevertheless, he returned to pre-season training with Cooper’s side, still nursing an injury sustained in Luton’s victorious play-off final at Wembley.
Horvath training with the USMNT in September (John Dorton/ISI Photos/Getty Images for USSF)At that stage, Forest’s other keeper, the Wales international Wayne Hennesssey, was injured and that gave the coaching staff cause for concern. Their pursuit of Dean Henderson, the loanee from Manchester United who had been first choice until a thigh injury in January ruled him out for the rest of the campaign, was dragging out and would ultimately fail.
Without a clause allowing them to recall Horvath from Luton, Forest were caught short and forced to sign 36-year-old Keylor Navas on loan. Determined not to be left short again, the club wanted two potential No 1s competing to start and a dependable third choice. At that stage, their pursuit of Henderson was stalling, Hennessey was out and, with Horvath close to fitness, they decided there was a chance he may be needed to start the season as first choice. Otherwise, only 22-year-old George Shelvey was available.
It led Forest to rebuff interest in Horvath from Millwall and Birmingham City, with the latter club making their interest formal.
Two weeks before the start of this season, Forest were still concerned about their options and remained determined to keep Horvath until that changed.
On August 9, they signed another USMNT goalkeeper, Matt Turner from Arsenal on a four-year contract, but were still reluctant to let Horvath leave until Hennessey was fit. Late on transfer deadline day, Forest announced they had signed Greece international Odysseas Vlachodimos from Benfica for £7.7million, after rejecting a loan offer for Horvath 24 hours earlier. He was then effectively stuck.
Things got worse for the American when Cooper decided that he could not be his third choice, because he knew he wanted to play and would not accept such a role, prompting the decision to leave him out of the squad altogether.
Perhaps no surprise, then, that Horvath did not feel like beaming when the team photograph came around.
He may have struggled to hide his dissatisfaction that blustery afternoon but Horvath’s attitude otherwise has been impressive. He and his wife, Maja, a former player with Molde in Norway, welcomed their first child, a daughter, in July which has been a positive distraction of sorts.
Then there has been the opportunity offered by three international breaks before January, a chance to link-up with his international team-mates in an environment where he feels part of the manager’s plans.
In January, Horvath will hope to get his belated chance to go and play elsewhere. There is interest in him from a Championship club and he would be open to playing in Germany.
“Ethan is still very much part of the day-to-day group,” Cooper told The Athletic on Thursday. “He is a good part of what we do in training, he is really positive around the place.
“I guess the ideal situation for him would be for him to be playing football somewhere, probably somewhere else, like he did last year.
“Unfortunately, that is not the case for him at the moment. The international break will be really good for him, because he has something to look forward to. He has been called up again for this one, after playing in the last one. It is something that we will have to address in January.”
Until then, the man who barely got a chance to rest last season when he felt so pivotal to Luton’s dreams, must reluctantly put his feet up until he can get the first-team club football he craves.
At that stage, he will have something to smile about again.
Additional reporting: Paul Taylor
(Top photo: John Dorton/ISI Photos/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k3JqbG1kbnxzfJFsZmpoX2WDcMHSpqWtZZWptaK6jKGmq66RqbVuus6tq6Kml52urnnFqKmeq6RitLCty6ScnqiVp3w%3D