Martin O’Neill will be hoping to keep hold of his prize assets at Nottingham Forest

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Nottingham Forest have traditionally had to sell at least one of their key players during the summer transfer window. 

If you look through the club’s transfer history, the last time the Reds haven’t sold a key player in the summer was at the end of the 2010/11 campaign.

Martin O’Neill will be hoping that this tradition can be broken this summer.

It looked as though that might have been the case last time out. However, Ben Brereton’s move to Blackburn Rovers at the end of August ensured the club would receive £7 million for the striker in January.

Albeit in this case, the 20-year-old wasn’t part of Aitor Karanka’s plans anyway.

This will have undoubtedly balanced the books after some big investment from Evangelos Marinakis into the squad.

Whether or not O’Neill will be given the same budget as Karanka remains to be seen. If he isn’t, then he certainly won’t want to see any of his prize assets walk out of the City Ground exit door.

Harsh reality

The reality for any Championship club is that you’re always at risk of losing your best players if you don’t secure promotion to the Premier League. This is something the Reds have certainly become accustomed to over the years.

If you look through the club’s recent transfer history, at least one key player has been sold in the summer to balance the books.

2018: Ben Brereton – Blackburn Rovers (£7 million)

2017: Britt Assombalonga – Middlesbrough (£15 million)

2016: Oliver Burke – RB Leipzig (£13 million)

2015: Michail Antonio – West Ham (£7 million)

2014: Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles – Newcastle (£7 million) 

The tradition goes back even further than that, although the fees received weren’t as substantial. Adlène Guedioura joined Crystal Palace on Deadline Day in 2013, whilst Chris Gunter joined Reading in 2012.

It’s fair to say that a clear pattern has been built over the last seven years or so. However, you do get the sense that things might be about to change.

Questions of the club’s resolve will no doubt be tested over the coming months though.

Assets

There have been years where it hasn’t felt like the Reds have had any star assets to sell-on anyway. It’s fair to say that isn’t the case this time round.

The likes of Joe Lolley, João Carvalho and Lewis Grabban are arguably the club’s highest-valued players. If the club were looking to recoup a significant amount of their summer spending, they’d probably need to sell one of them.

But if the Reds are serious about forging a promotion challenge next season, O’Neill will need all three of them at his disposal.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether the club fend off interest in their star players this summer. If they do, they’ll finally break this long-standing tradition.