Nottingham Forest: Remember Gonzalo Jara? Here’s what he’s up to nowawdays | OneFootball

Gonzalo Jara is a name that many Nottingham Forest supporters should still remember after he played a prominent role for them during his brief spell at the City Ground.

The Reds signed Jara on an initial loan deal from West Brom in January 2013 as the Reds searched for extra defensive reinforcements midway through the 2012/13 campaign.

The Chilean managed to make 17 appearances during the second half of the campaign and played a part in helping Forest secure an 8th place finish.

Bill Davies had taken over as Nottingham Forest manager for his latest spell in charge at the City Ground in February 2013 and he has been impressed enough by Jara’s performances during his loan spell that he made the move a permanent one in the summer of 2013.

The defender helped to establish Nottingham Forest as real promotion contenders during the first half of the 2013/14 season after he arrived on a permanent deal from West Brom. However, partly due to a host of injury problems Forest suffered something of a collapse in their form in the second half of the campaign and that cost Davies his job with Gary Brazil finishing out the campaign in caretaker charge.

Overall, Jara managed to make 39 appearances in all competitions that season for Nottingham Forest as they finished in 11th place in the Championship table. That proved not to be enough to earn the Chilean another deal at the City Ground and he left the Reds in the summer of 2014.

It did not take Jara time to find a new club, with Bundesliga side Mainz 05 and he managed to make 23 appearances in total during his time with the German club most of which came during the 2014/15 campaign. During that season he helped them to finish in 11th place in the German top-flight. However, midway through the next term his contract was terminated with him struggling for minutes.

Following his exit from Mainz, Jara made the decision to return to his native Chile and that came after he had helped his nation secure the Copa America title in the summer of 2015 and then retain the title in the 2016 Copa America as well.

The defender joined Universidad de Chile where he managed to make 58 appearances in a two-year spell during which time he helped them secure their 18th league title in 2017.

Jara then made the move to Club Estudiantes de La Plata where he spent just a brief period in 2019 and made 15 appearances. More short-term spells with Mexican sides Morelia and Mazatlan followed in 2020 where he made a combined 17 appearances before he made another move to Tijuana in 2021 and managed to make 13 appearances.

The Chilean has now once again returned to his native Chile and he is currently playing for Club Deportivo Unión La Calera and he has managed to make six appearances for his new club in 2021.