Barrie McKay insists he has no messages to deliver to Aitor Karanka when Swansea City host Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
McKay spent a year at Forest, before he joined the Swans this summer, but once Karanka came in as manager at his old club midway through last season he found himself surplus to requirements.
That prompted the Scottish winger to move to the Liberty Stadium and he had started every Championship game under Graham Potter until he missed the victory at Millwall a fortnight ago due to illness.
But he says: “I don’t really feel like I’ve got anything to prove to Forest. I went there and felt I did well for them.
“The first six months went really well for me, but I struggled a bit over the last six. It was tough to go from playing every game to not really featuring at all.
“The manager brought in his own players and had different ideas, but that can happen in football.
“I was training with the under-23 side and obviously that’s not what you want to be doing. You want to be part of the first team and contributing.
“It’s still early days for me here at Swansea and I’ve still got a lot to prove to the manager and fans. It’s up to me to prove my worth here rather than thinking about the past.”
McKay has shaken off the bug that forced him to miss the Swans’ resilient victory at the New Den, but the club have suffered a severe blow with the loss of Jefferson Montero for around six to eight weeks.
The Ecuadorian winger injured his thigh in training and could miss at least eight Championship matches.
Jay Fulton is also back after having surgery on a broken thumb before the international break. But fellow midfielder Leroy Fer misses out after being injured in the 2-1 win at Millwall.
Oli McBurnie (toe and ankle) and Joe Rodon (ankle) are fit after missing respective international duty with Scotland and Wales Under-21s, but Courtney Baker-Richardson is banned after his Millwall red card.
Forest are expected to hand Claudio Yacob a debut after the former West Brom midfielder signed a two-year deal at the City Ground. Greece international Panagiotis Tachtsidis has also joined as a free agent and will be included in the squad.
Adlene Guedioura has been sidelined with a fractured cheekbone but could possibly feature wearing a protective face mask. Michael Dawson (calf), Lewis Grabban (Achilles) and Hillal Soudani (knee) also hope to be options after injury.
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Swansea and Nottingham Forest haven’t faced in any competition since the 2010-11 Championship play-offs, when Swansea triumphed 3-1 on aggregate over two legs.
There has been a 90th minute goal scored in four of the last five meetings between Swansea and Nottingham Forest, with the other game ending 0-0.
Swansea winger Jefferson Montero assisted twice as a substitute in their 2-1 win at Millwall, becoming the first Swans player to achieve this off the bench in a league game since February 2014 (Pablo Hernandez against Cardiff).
Nottingham Forest manager Aitor Karanka’s two managerial visits to Wales have both ended in defeat, losing against Cardiff in October 2015 with Middlesbrough and April 2018 with Forest.
Swansea striker Oliver McBurnie has scored more Championship goals in 2018 than any other player (13, 10 for Barnsley, 3 for Swansea).
Daryl Murphy has had a hand in 11 goals in 33 appearances for Forest in all competitions – 10 of those have been in August or September (9 goals, 1 assist).
