It has been a fortnight since Chris Hughton took charge of Nottingham Forest, and it seems as if the 61-year-old has settled on a group of players rather quickly.

Upon his arrival at the City Ground, Hughton insisted that it was a chance for every player to impress, with some being previously frozen out by previous managers.

Gaetan Bong, Michael Hefele and Zach Clough were among a small group of players - labelled the 'bomb squad' - who were forced to train separately away from the first-team.

Quiz: Do Nottingham Forest and Derby County have these 10 things in common?

 

Hughton's arrival hinted at a potential fresh start for those players, however with the manager naming unchanged sides in his first two games in charge and using only 14 different players, the trio are yet to feature.

Clough hasn't featured for Forest in well over two years, with his last appearance coming in January 2018. A 2-1 defeat to Hull City in the FA Cup under Aitor Karanka.

He failed to make a single appearance under Martin O'Neill and Sabri Lamouchi, and is yet to be named in a matchday squad under Hughton.

Clough arrived at Forest as an exciting prospect, having scored plenty of goals for Bolton Wanderers in League One.

Now 25, Clough's career has stagnated, and he hasn't been able to secure a move away from the City Ground in previous transfer windows.

Loan moves to Bolton and Rochdale have materialised, but he hasn't been able to get regular game time under his belt and hasn't played a competitive first-team fixture since April 2019.

He is now at a crossroads and would have been desperate to leave in the summer, but it's more a case of who is willing to take a chance on him.

Clough is out of contract at the end of the season, so it looks as if his future will be decided at the end of the campaign one way or another. The question is, will that exit come in January, or in the summer?