During recent seasons Nottingham Forest have looked to cast their recruitment net further afield with several signings arriving from the European market.
Particularly in the last couple of years with Evangelos Marinakis at the helm, Forest have looked to unearth players from on the continent rather than overpaying for homegrown additions.
Last summer the club opted to sign three Portuguese players. Joao Carvalho arrived permanently; with Diogo Goncalves and Gil Dias penning loan terms at the City Ground.
Winger Dias caught the eye, having played a fair amount of football for Fiorentina during the 2017/18 campaign, it was presumed he would take the Championship by storm.
That never really transpired. Despite a promising pre-season campaign where he scored a particularly good goal during a win over Bournemouth; he was found wanting once the serious stuff got underway.
The 23-year-old played in 24 games during his time at the City Ground and contributed just one goal and one assist, both of which came in the Carabao Cup.
He started just 10 games in the Championship and never really scaled the heights that were anticipated upon his arrival on Trentside.
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His loan was terminated following a game against Bristol City in January and he joined Olympiacos where he also scored one goal and registered one assist.
Given a poor 2018/19 campaign the summer saw him left in limbo somewhat and with offers for his services not forthcoming, he was forced to stick around at Monaco.
Resurgence
Remarkably he has now forced himself into the team at the French outfit. He has played the whole 90 during the last three games, helping Monaco to two wins during that period.
Dias was also part of a famous win over Marseille in the French Cup recently, getting on the pitch for the last 12 minutes and it looks as though he has began rebuilding his career.
Whilst Dias occasionally bright and often energetic his footballing brain was sadly lacking. Forest fans will remember a game at Norwich away where his poor clearance helped the Canaries complete a comeback from 3-0 down; denying the Reds a crucial three points.
Dias can play and given his age time is on his side. If he is to really make an impact at Monaco he will need to start adding more goals and assists to his game.
For a winger, he drifts in and out of games far too often and it will certainly come as a surprise to some Forest supporters that he is now a mainstay in the Monaco team.
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