Nottingham Forest made a whopping 23 new signings over the summer in an attempt to build a team that could compete in the Premier League. However, so far it hasn't worked out for Steve Cooper and his army of fresh faces.

The Tricky Trees are currently rock bottom in the league table after picking up just nine points from their first 13 outings in the top flight and the powers at The City Ground will surely be searching for solutions after a disastrous recruitment process that cost Evangelos Marinakis £150m.

The Forest owner sacked both his head of recruitment and head scout last month in a review of the summer transfer window, and it is looking likely Marinakis will now need to reach into his pockets yet again when the market re-opens in January.

Probably the biggest issue the Garibaldi Reds have struggled with is their attacking threat and creating goal-scoring opportunities with the second-lowest goals scored in the entire Premier League so far. Thus, if there is a possible solution in the market the winter it could be a season-changing signing for the club.

One player who has been named as a potential transfer target this week is Atalanta's Ruslan Malinovskyi, an attacking midfielder who was also linked with the club throughout the summer too.

According to Calciomercato (via Sport Witness), Nottingham Forest and West Ham United are reigniting their interest in the talented Ukrainian, however, there have been further reports that Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in a new year swoop for the player.

The 29-year-old - who journalist Josh Bunting claims has a "stunning left foot" - ranks in the top 15% of his positional peers across the top five European leagues for aerial duels won, blocks, progressive passes, shots on goal and shot-creating actions, as well as proving this season so far that he could be the perfect partner for Taiwo Awoniyi.

Over 11 Serie A appearances, Remo Freuler's former teammate has scored one goal, registered one assist and created two big chances, as well as averaging one tackle, one shot on goal and 2.5 duels won per game.

Not only that, Malinovskyi ranks first in the Serie A and second across the top five European Leagues for shots converted outside of the box (100%), so it is clear that he could be the much-needed clinical and natural finisher Forest are crying out for.

Awoniyi currently relies on Jesse Lingard and Morgan Gibbs-White to provide him with the creativity and goal-scoring opportunities something both of them are struggling to provide with Lingard creating zero big chances and offering no assists so far, whilst Gibbs-White has served just two assists and created two big chances.

With that being said, Marinakis must sanction the signing of Malinovskyi in January as he could be a complete game-changer for Forest in their pursuit of remaining in the Premier League.