Nottingham Forest have work to do ahead of their opening game in the Championship against Coventry City and the Reds know they will need to make more improvements to their squad.

Chris Hughton’s side have found life difficult in the summer transfer window so far with the Reds having only managed to add Ethan Horvath to their squad to provide some competition for placed with Brice Samba between the sticks.

Apart from that though, the Reds have not been able to add in the areas that need some attention this summer.

Next season is a massive one for the Reds and for Hughton’s reign as manager, the expectation will be that Forest manage to challenge a lot closer towards the top end of the division than they were able to do last term.

In order to do that it is vital that one or two issues are addressed over the next few weeks ahead of the season’s opening game against Coventry City.

With that in mind, we take a look at TWO dilemmas that Hughton is facing ahead of the start of the campaign…

Strengthening upfront and at left-back

Two major areas of the squad that Nottingham Forest need to address this summer are upfront and at left-back and the Reds have started to be linked with a couple of potential signings in both areas recently.

If Hughton can add to the squad with the right options in those two positions then they will look better placed to win their opening match of the campaign against Coventry.

Forest have been consistently linked with a potential move for Dinamo Zagreb forward Sandro Kulenovic for a while now, and according to Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti the Reds have submitted an offer to secure the 21-year-old on loan for the season.

That deal was also thought to come with an option to make it a permanent move of around €2 million to €3 million.

There were reports that Kulenovic had turned down the chance to make the switch to the City Ground, but Sportske Novosti have since reported that the 21-year-old had made a U-turn over his future and could yet move to Forest this summer.

In terms of the left-back position, Nottingham Forest are interested in making a surprise move for Derby County’s Lee Buchanan this summer and they have submitted an initial offer for the defender.  According to The Sun on Sunday (25/07,p62) Forest’s offer was worth around £2 million.

Resolving Joe Worrall’s future

One major dilemma still hanging over Nottingham Forest this summer is what to do with the long-term future of the influential Joe Worrall.

According to a recent report from The Sun journalist Alan Nixon, Hughton’s side were prepared to sanction his departure to newly-promoted Brentford only for the Bees to opt to pursue a move for Kristoffer Ajer instead.

Nixon revealed that an offer on the table worth around £10 million to £12 million could tempt Forest into a dale this summer. That suggests that the Reds could potentially cash in on the defender for around that valuation.

The 24-year-old has been linked with a potential move to both Burnley and West Ham this summer as well as Brentford. It will be interesting to see whether any other Premier League side comes in with an offer close to Forest’s valuation of him this summer.

One way or another, Hughton will be wanting to know what is happening with his star defender so that he can start to plan for a potential replacement if that is going to be needed.