Callum O'Dowda has paid tribute to his Nottingham Forest manager Martin O'Neill for the work he did with him in the Republic of Ireland setup.

The end of O'Neill's time in charge of Ireland was heavily criticised after they were relegated from the second tier of the Nations League with two draws and two defeats, but O'Dowda, who was handed his international debut by O'Neill, has nothing but praise for the Forest boss.

Speaking to Irish News about O'Neill, the Bristol City winger said: "I think with Martin it was more that he made me feel like a better player than I actually am.

“That's what I noticed. I would be going out to training probably thinking that I was better than I was.

“So that's probably the best way to sum it up, really. Yes, he did get a lot of criticism, which I knew about.

“I think that you are going to get that when results are not going your way. But he was, in my eyes, a very good manager.”

O'Dowda's contract with Bristol City is set to expire at the end of next season, and with Robins' manager Lee Johnson revealing to the Bristol Post that contract talks between the club and the midfielder had broken down, a print edition of The Daily Mirror (21/05,p49) reported that Leeds are interested in a move for the Irishman.

The 24-year-old winger has made a total of 102 appearances and scored seven goals for the Robins since moving to Ashton Gate from Oxford in the summer of 2016, but hasn't played for the club since the middle of March.

The verdict

This could certain raise a few eyebrows at The City Ground.

These comments appear to suggest that O'Dowda would be willing to work with O'Neill again, and with Forest looking to build for a promotion push next season, O'Dowda's attacking threat from out wide would certainly help them.

It will be interesting to see if they look to make anything out of this, with O'Dowda's future at Ashton Gate seemingly far from certain.