Nottingham Forest bolstered their midfield with both Liam Bridcutt and Andreas Bouchalakis in the summer.
The November international break is a checkpoint which signals that we are roughly a third of the way through the season.
This is, in most cases, a long enough time for judgements to be made on the millions of pounds worth of summer signings.
Here we take a closer look at Nottingham Forest midfielders Liam Bridcutt and Andreas Bouchalakis.
Liam Bridcutt
The former Sunderland and Leeds United man was not the most glamorous of Forest’s seven summer signings, but he has played an important role for Mark Warburton’s improving team.
Since making his debut in a 2-0 defeat to Leeds in August, Bridcutt has played every minute of Forest’s Championship campaign, providing the sort of midfield security which has allowed the likes of Kieran Dowell and Barrie McKay to thrive further up the pitch in their ascent to playoff contention.
The 28-year-old doesn’t bring as much to the Tricky Trees as a fully-fit David Vaughan, but much of his good work goes unnoticed. He takes up excellent positions and is savy in his use of the ball.
That he only cost £1m, according to the Nottingham Post, makes him a pretty good piece of business.
Grade: B
Andreas Bouchalakis
When the unknown Bouchalakis joined on a free transfer from Olympiacos, who are also owned by Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, it stunk of another Djamel Abdoun or Rafik Djebbour disaster.
However, the midfielder soon put those fears to bed with a pair of long-distance strikes in the 4-3 win over Brentford in August, and he has proved himself to be a useful squad player for the Tricky Trees.
While he has not hit the heights that he threatened with that brilliant Brentford brace, failing to start a league game since September, the Greek midfielder has regularly been used off the bench and will get more chances throughout the demanding schedule that is the Championship season.
Grade: C
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
