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Aitor Karanka feels Nottingham Forest’s squad is the best one he has ever kicked-off a new season with.

The Reds boss says the club have fulfilled all the plans he put in place in the final months of last season, with the remarkable summer of recruitment they have completed, with more than £20m spent on 11 new additions.

There is still more to come, with Karanka stating Forest are still confident of landing a right-back – and hinting there could be one more "surprise" to come beyond that.

And Karanka says the end result is that Forest will head into the first Championship game of the season, at Bristol City on Saturday, with a perfectly balanced squad.

“Yes, it is,” said Karanka, when asked if this was the strongest group of players he has ever started a season with.

(Image: Joseph Raynor)

“At Middlesbrough I started two pre-seasons in the Championship and in both pre-seasons we got many of the players in the last week (of the transfer window).

“In those days the end of the transfer window was at the end of August. So we played the first four or five games without our full squad.

“This season has been different because I have more experience now. I had 10 months on holiday (without a job). So I was ready to work in the summer. The club is hungry, the crowd is hungry and I am hungry.”

Karanka began planning for the new campaign even before last season had finished – and he says the club have successfully followed the blueprint they drew up, as they look to put together a squad capable of challenging at the right end of the table.

“Yes, we have achieved what we wanted to do in those plans. When I was in Middlesbrough, I would have liked to have had a balanced squad with two players in every position,” he said.

“And we do not just have two players in every position here. We have two very good players in every position.

“The players and myself are pleased with the optimism and excitement that there is here, in the city and in the stadium.”

(Image: Alex Morton/Getty Images)

Forest still want to add a right-back, with West Ham’s Sam Byram among their list of targets.

“We are trying to strengthen the right-back position. We have Tendayi Darikwa who is doing really well. But we will still bring in a right-back,” said Karanka.

“In the same way as we have done all summer, he must be the right person to do a job on the pitch and the right person for the changing room.

“We will get one more for sure. And while the market is open, maybe there will be a surprise.

“I hope we will get somebody as soon as possible (at right-back), but we are not in a hurry, because we want to find the right one.

“The puzzle is almost done and this is the last piece. We might have one more surprise, but this is the last piece we need.”

Karanka says Forest are pursuing more than one target, as they look to land a player to compete with Darikwa for the role on the right side of defence.

“We have a few targets, sometimes you might feel you are close to signing one, but a few days later you might get a call or an e-mail from somebody, offering you a player who you might not have thought was available,” he said.

“Again, when we have the squad that we have at the moment, the right-back that will arrive will be the right one. The right-back, will be the right one.”