Leeds United January transfer target Joe Worrall is set to leave Nottingham Forest for Besiktas, HITC understands.
Sources have told HITC that Joe Worrall is on the verge of joining Besiktas from Nottingham Forest.
Leeds United January target Joe Worrall off to Besiktas
Besiktas have finalised a deal with Forest for Worrall. The defender was given permission to fly to Istanbul over the weekend and attended the match against Trabzonspor, which Besiktas won.
Forest, who signed Giovanni Reyna in the January transfer window, wanted to sell the defender, but the Reds, who are in danger of getting relegated to the Championship at the end of the season, have agreed to send the 27-year-old centre-back out on loan for the rest of the campaign.
HITC understands that Leeds United tried to get a deal done for Worrall on the final day of the January transfer window.
Leeds, who are aiming to win automatic promotion to the Premier League, made a bid for the defender.
Sheffield United also tried and failed to sign the former Rangers loanee on January transfer deadline day.
Joe Worrall once described as ‘fantastic’
Besiktas had been looking around England for a defender and spoke to Newcastle United’s Jamaal Lascelles. However, Worrall emerged as the Turkish club’s first-choice defender target, and now they have got a deal done.
Worrall has been on the books of Forest since 2011 and came through the club’s youth system before establishing himself in the first team.
Described by Liverpool legend and former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard as “a fantastic player”, Worrall played for the Reds in the Championship and the Premier League.
The defender has made 37 appearances in the Premier League so far in his career. He has scored one goal and kept six clean sheets in those games.
Worrall, who was linked with West Ham United in January 2022, is under contract at Forest until the summer of 2026.
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