Nottingham Forest had a pretty unprecedented summer ahead of the start of the 2018/19 campaign.

Under the guidance of Aitor Karanka and the backing of the club’s hierarchy, the Spaniard signed no less than 17 players between June and the end of October, with free agents still able to move freely after the August deadline.

Forest were heavy players in the transfer window as they looked to build a side able to challenge for promotion to the Premier League after a plethora of false dawns.

Before the volume of players to fill a matchday squad arrived, the club were just coming to the start of a new pre-season when their first move in the market was made.

On June 23, 2018, in somewhat of a coup for the club, Gil Dias arrived on a season-long loan from AS Monaco.

The 22-year-old playmaker came to the City Ground with high acclaim and lot of buzz behind him.

And plenty of the Forest supporters were pleased with his arrival, too.

Dias played 80 minutes on his debut for the club and received a yellow card in an impressive performance in the 1-1 draw with Bristol City.

The Portuguese attacker was an integral part to the team in the opening weeks of the season, but then things started to slowly come off the rails.

He soon had more substitute appearances (11) than he did starts (10), after 21 matches in the league.

One goal in the pulsating EFL Cup win over Newcastle was his standout display – but inconsistency reigned.

After that fixture, Dias would play a full 90 minutes just twice in 18 games.

No goals or assists in the league was a concern that will ultimately define his time in England at the City Ground.

Dias’ signing was one that brought real optimism to the club’s supporters before that extinguished in spectacular style before his deal was torn up to pave the way to another loan move – this time to Greece and Olympiacos for the rest of the year.