Nottingham Forest icon Garry Birtles believes the club must move to sign a creative central midfield player this summer.
The Championship club struggled to compete to expectation last season, and only narrowly avoided relegation from the second-tier on the final day of the campaign.
But Mark Warburton, who took over as manager at the club for the final few months of the season, is expected to put his own stamp on and make changes to the first-team squad in the coming months.
They have reportedly already agreed a £1million deal to sign Hibernian goalscorer Jason Cummings, who completed a medical at the club on Wednesday, but Birtles believes there are other areas that need addressing.
Warburton will have the financial backing of the club’s new owner Evangelos Marinakis this summer, meaning Nottingham Forest should be able to go about their business in an assertive manner.
He told the Nottingham Post: “Having watched Forest, I think, for me, a creative central midfield player is a must for next season, somebody who can unlock defences with their ability on the ball.
“It will be interesting to see what the club does in terms of signings as you would expect Marinakis to want to make some kind of statement.
“I am sure Warburton has been overloaded with players’ names by agents, but they have to be the right ones to fit his system.”
Warburton, did however, make a number of poor judgement calls in the transfer market whilst manager at Rangers.
The former Ibrox chief endured widespread criticism following his departure from the Scottish club in February, having failed to achieve a successful campaign with his new recruits.
Joey Barton, Matt Gilks, Joe Garner and Niko Kranjcar are among last summer’s signings that failed to make an impact at Ibrox, with Barton and Gilks having since quit the club.
Nottingham Forest fans will be hoping that Warburton has learned from his mistakes this time around, and can bring in the necessary quality that is currently lacking in the Forest camp.
Birtles, who made 280 appearances for the club across two separate spells, shares the view of the supporters, insisting that he needs to add the “right” players this summer.