Nottingham Forest have had an excellent season so far and currently sit inside the Championship's top six with only nine games left to play.

Sabri Lamouchi has built a side that has been able to compete with the best in the division, beating teams such as Brentford, Leeds United and Fulham.

Since he's come in as manager, the team has evolved and has become more of a unit with Forest battling in a lot of their victories and coming out with a tactical plan to beat the opposition.

One man who has been key, yet has slightly gone under the radar, is winger Sammy Ameobi. The 27-year-old is a key part of this Forest squad and has appeared in 36 Championship games in this current campaign. Even more credit to the player is the fact he's started 30 of them and is now a massive part of Lamouchi's first XI, in both an attacking and defensive sense.

Ameobi has had an interesting career to date, and at 27 he has failed to assert himself at any single club so far during his time as a professional. During his time at Newcastle United, he was loaned out several times and was never considered a regular starter in a side that were a low Premier League team.

Can you get 100% in this Nottingham Forest quiz? Have a go now!

To put it into perspective of how little he played during his time on Tyneside, Ameobi played more games in his two years at Bolton Wanderers than he did in seven with the Magpies. He also had a loan spell at Bolton, whilst attempting to develop at both Middlesbrough and Cardiff City in separate spells.

You can't deny, Ameobi has an abundance of talent and was even picked for the England under-21 side in the past, his skills often got supporters off their feet, but a consistency of performances was lacking for the winger.

Now, at Forest, Lamouchi has offered the player a chance to kick-start his career and start playing as a regular first-team player week in, week out. This has been the major difference for Ameobi, and it has seen him become not just a good footballer at Forest, but also a fan favourite and someone the supporters know will continuously give 100% and do their job in each fixture.

These types of players are hard to come by, and what is interesting is that the Reds are currently in the play-off places and there is potential for the side to reach the Premier League come the end of the campaign. This would be an almighty step up for the player, but at the same time would give him a chance to show the many who doubted him during his time at Newcastle that they were wrong to do so.

His career is taking a turn for the better and he's now netted three times for the Reds, whilst also claiming eight assists throughout this campaign. It's a good amount for a winger but what would go unnoticed to someone who doesn't watch Forest regularly is his defensive work.

Dependent on what side he's on, usually the left, Ameobi has a tendency to consistently track back whilst at the same time being an outlet if his side needs one. He's now found a club where it looks as though he belongs, and there's no reason why he can't now stay at Forest for a number of years and stay a vital player for the side.

Credit has to go to Lamouchi for taking a gamble on the winger, but it also has to go to Ameobi himself who never once gave up, even through tricky times.