Life at Nottingham Forest hasn't been plain sailing thus far for Benfica loanee Diogo Gonçalves.

The 21-year-old arrived at the City Ground as part of a major summer overhaul, a period in which fellow Benfica star Joao Carvalho signed for a club-record fee.

The Portuguese winger made just seven starting appearances for the Liga NOS outfit, before sealing a season-long loan move to Forest in the summer.

But life in the East Midlands hasn't been too straight-forward for the attacker, and whilst fellow countrymen Carvalho and Monaco loanee Gil Dias have been regulars for Aitor Karanka's Reds, Gonçalves has had to settle for a couple of appearances here and there.

He started in Forest's opening day 1-1 draw away at Bristol City, then came on as a late substitute in their opening home game against West Brom, however since then, his next two appearances have come in the Carabao Cup against Bury and Stoke City.

He performed very well in the latter, as Forest led the Potters by 3 goals to 1 before the winger was shown a straight red card after a contentious challenge - halting his progress in the first-team even more.

But Gonçalves has responded in perhaps the best way how - his performances for the Portugal under-21 side have been dazzling in recent weeks, and the 21-year old has undeniably put himself back in contention for a starting berth.

He netted a brace in their 9-0 victory away at Lichtenstein last week, and then scored an absolutely sensational strike after a superb impressive solo run, in the 4-2 victory at home to Bosnia.

Forest are in a fine run of form of late - the Reds condemned promotion rivals Middlesbrough to their first league defeat on home soil before the international break, and will be very hopeful of extending their unbeaten run to seven league games as they face Norwich City at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.

Many would argue that the starting XI does not need changing after such an impressive result at the Riverside, but Karanka is no stranger to rotating his squad around to cater for the strong squad depth that Forest have in their ranks.

And after his phenomenal performances for Portugal over the last couple of weeks, Gonçalves has more than proven that he is ready for a return to the Forest squad, and should be one of the first names on Karanka's teamsheet on Saturday afternoon...