Nottingham Forest made an ambitious effort to rebuild and develop their squad to compete in the Premier League with 22 new signings acquired during the summer transfer window, however, the intention hasn't matched the expectation on the pitch.

The Tricky Trees have spent the large majority of their campaign so far in the relegation zone, however, after a good run of form ahead of the World Cup break the team are now just one point shy of climbing out of the bottom three.

Steve Cooper will surely have been using the pause in Premier League football as an opportunity to prepare and find solutions ahead of the second half of the season to ensure Forest get on track to maintain their top-flight status.

Evangelos Marinakis sacked the head of recruitment George Syrianos and head scout Andy Scott following a review of the transfer business delivered and will be hoping that the golden opportunity to strengthen the squad in January with the newly-appointed personnel behind the scenes will inspire better results on the pitch.

Whilst bringing in players who can make a genuinely positive impact on the team when the transfer window reopens next season, the club will also have the opportunity to offload players that haven't had the desired effect at The City Ground, with one player already preparing for a swift exit after just six months on Trentside.

Stade Rennais centre-back Loic Bade is reportedly set to have his season-long loan spell - which included a £12m option to buy - cut short in January and the player will return to his Ligue One parent club early with the view to loan the player out elsewhere.

The 22-year-old Frenchman was brought in to bolster the defensive set-up in the Forest team but has failed to make a single competitive appearance for the team and as a result, is clearly not rated by Cooper so it makes no sense for the club to hold onto the player any longer.

It is perhaps surprising that Bade has not been given the opportunity to stake his claim to a spot in the Forest team considering his output in Ligue One last season.

Over 14 league appearances, the centre-back registered one assist, tallied up a 90% pass completion rate and completed 80% of his dribbles successfully, as well as averaging 3.3 clearances, 60 touches and 2.6 duels won per game, proving that he is clearly a player who is progressive and effective when in possession of the ball.

With that being said, if Cooper doesn't envision Bade in his future plans it would be beneficial for both the player and the club to simply part ways at the earliest convenience so that Forest can prioritise adding players that will fit the manager's desired profile.