Nottingham Forest are struggling to inspire their fans at the moment after a lacklustre opening 23 games.

At the halfway stage of the year, they have only mustered 26 points and find themselves just 6 adrift of the relegation zone.

While relegation is unthinkable, it is not completely out of the question and a positive January transfer window should put to bed any niggling doubts about Forest being dragged into the survival scrap.

But Forest should temporarily forget about any potential signings for the time being.

Forget about Omar Bogle.

Even forget about this takeover, which is dragging on far too long.

And also forget about the future of Philippe Montanier.

Those issues all need to be addressed, but not before Henri Lansbury signs on the dotted line and commits his future to Nottingham Forest.

The 26-year-old joined from Arsenal after a successful year on loan at West Ham and has been a hit ever since.

The central midfielder has bundles of energy, an abundance of talent and the ability to both score and create goals.

He has a rare talent and it's a miracle that Forest have not been fighting off loads of Premier League bids for him in every transfer window.

But this January, they will face a battle to keep him in a red shirt.

Derby, Watford, Newcastle and Birmingham have all been credited with an interest in signing Lansbury in a cut-price move, given his contract situation.

And there are bound to be more potential suitors circling around Lansbury until that contract is signed.

Contract talks are rumoured to be on hold until after the takeover of American businessman John Jay Moores is complete but it just needs to be brought to the forefront of Forest's agenda because they cannot lose a star player like Lansbury in January.

Nottingham Forest fans - do you agree? How important is Lansbury? Can you keep him in January? Let us know in the comments below...