The Sun Journalist Alan Nixon has suggested that Nottingham Forest could be forced into selling one key player believed to potentially be defender Joe Worrall in the summer to raise funds to invest in the squad.

Chris Hughton will be facing a crucial summer where he will need to make the right additions to the squad to help get the Reds into a position where they can challenge for promotion. Forest invested in the squad last summer after they had managed to bring in some funds from the sale of Matty Cash to Aston Villa, but those have largely failed to help them kick on.

Worrall is another one of Nottingham Forest’s academy graduates who has been attracting transfer interest over the last few windows, with Burnley having been consistently linked with a move for the defender. Although, Hughton has admitted recently that he would like to keep him at the City Ground and backed him to remain focused despite all of the speculation around his future.

It has now emerged that Nottingham Forest might need to sell one of their key assets in the summer transfer window to make new signings to their squad. Asked whether the potential player that could leave the club would be Worrall, Nixon suggested that it could well be the defender that is the one to make way to raise transfer funds.

The verdict

It is going to be a massive summer for Forest, and they are used to having to sell some of their key players who have come through their academy. However, losing Worrall would be a massive blow for the Reds as he has once again been one of their outstanding individual performers this term when he has been fully fit and in the side on a consistent basis.

The one positive will be that Hughton’s side do have the likes of Scott McKenna, Tobias Figueiredo and Loïc Mbe Soh in their squad who are all quality options so they would have options already at the club who could step in to replace him. However, losing someone with Worrall’s leadership qualities as well as his overall ability would be a big loss to the side.

This latest update will be encouraging to Burnley and other potential interested parties in Worrall, and Forest need to weigh up whether it is worth losing the defender if it means they can bring in a couple of quality additions to the squad. It is a tough decision that they will need to get right if they are going to be able to kick on.