Aitor Karanka has overhauled the squad, but some of the younger players kept their positions.

Nottingham Forest are currently in 18th place after an optimistic run has been replaced by three straight league defeats.

There have been signs of development, but Karanka hasn't been able to eliminate the inconsistency that plagued Mark Warburton's reign as of yet.

Multiple players were brought in during the January transfer window with a lot of them being over 30 such as Costel Pantilimon and Ben Watson.

However, players such as Ben Brereton and Kieran Dowell have kept their places, so Karanka does look to give chances to talented prospects especially in forward areas.

Here are three players that could break into the first-team next season:

Ahmedhodzic is a versatile player because he can play as either a defensive midfielder or a centre-back, so he adds depth to multiple key areas. This is useful for a squad challenging for promotion due to the sheer amount of games in the Championship which mean that external factors play a part such as injuries and suspensions.

His work-rate and defensive contributions are useful due to Karanka prioritising defensive shape over anything else which means his teams play compact centrally in order to force teams where they can force a turnover through intelligent pressing. He could work well alongside an experienced central midfielder such as Jack Colback or Watson due to the cover can provide if he is caught out of position.

There is also the option for him to play as a centre-back, although that is slightly more risky because of the importance of that role and the smaller likelihood of someone being able to cover for his mistakes.

Yates has been on loan at both Notts County and Scunthorpe playing the majority of the games he has been available for. He is another player that could be used in central midfield, but he is a lot more attack-minded than Ahmedhodzic.

In Karanka's preferred 4-2-3-1 set-up, Yates could be used in the attacking midfield role where he would be tasked with linking up with the lone striker in the progression up the pitch then working effectively with them and the wide players in the final third.

He scored six goals for Notts County in all competitions as well as one so far for Scunthorpe. His move up the divisions has been pretty seamless, so it appears that he isn't far off being first-team quality.

McDonagh has already made his debut for the first-team all the way back in 2015, but he is yet to play since then.

He has been on multiple loan spells since then with Tranmere Rovers being the latest. His recent spells don't suggest that he is first-team quality as of yet, but he could be used as a rotation option for Brereton and Daryl Murphy in order to keep them fresh through the season.

The fact that he was given a first-team debut at 17-years-old shows his quality, but he needs to keep progressing and show more consistency if he wants to work his way into the first-team especially with Karanka in charge.