Nottingham Forest will be desperate to put together a much more serious promotion bid than they managed last season this time around. 

Despite heading into the 2018/19 campaign as one of the favourites to win promotion, Aitor Karanka and Martin O'Neill could only manage them to a ninth-place finish, eight points out side the play-offs.

So an important summer lies ahead for the Reds but it is unlikely that they will be able to sign at the same rate they did a year ago.

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The summer of 2018 saw 16 new faces arrive at the City Ground with over £24million being spent in the process.

One man who did not cost a penny, however, was West Ham United loanee Sam Byram.

After impressing with Leeds United in the second tier before earning a Premier League move, this looked like a great signing for the Reds.

However, a nasty injury limited him to just six second-tier appearances.

But did he show enough to warrant O'Neill to maybe move for him again?

This will be a very tricky decision for O'Neill to make.

Whilst the likes of Saidy Janko and Tendayi Darikwa both did well on the right of the defence, neither managed to make the spot their own and the fact that Byram was able to reclaim the spot on his return from injury is telling.

The statistics in his six games are strong as well.

Averaging just over three tackles, three clearances and two aerial duels per game show that he has the defensive competency to shine for Forest.

In an attacking sense, playing over one key pass per game is more than a good amount for a right-back to be making and a pass success rate of 77% for someone largely found on the wing in impressive too.

However, the fact he suffered such a serious injury will be hanging over any decision O'Neill makes and it is very hard to say whether it is worth the gamble or not.