Premier League overachievers Burnley reportedly made a £10m bid to sign England U21 defender Joe Worrall from Championship Nottingham Forest in January.
The future does not look particularly good for Joe Worrall right now.
The 21-year-old centre-back is the latest academy graduate to become a first team regular at Nottingham Forest and looked set for a big role in the side once the pragmatic Aitor Karanka arrived at the New Year and started to build his team around a solid defence.
But Worrall soon lost his place to Danny Fox and January recruit Tobias Figueiredo and did not start a league game between early February and the end of the season. And, over the summer, Forest have landed Michael Dawson and Jack Robinson in addition to making Figueiredo’s loan move from Sporting Lisbon into a permanent deal.
So Worrall, a regular under Mark Warburton, could find himself down in fifth place in the pecking order. This perhaps explains reports in the Mirror (13 June, 8.41pm) claiming that Forest could be willing to cash in on the long-time Burnley target.
Back in January, the Clarets offered £10 million for the England U21 talent.
And it would be interesting to see how Forest react if they receive a similar offer for Worrall between now and the end of the transfer window. £10 million for a fifth-choice centre-back would be excellent business on paper, even if the youngster remains highly rated and has the potential to improve.
Some supporters might be disappointed to see one of their academy graduates fly the nest once again but £10 million would surely be too good to turn down.
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