Nottingham Forest are planning an ambitious swoop for Reading midfielder Josh Laurent, according to Alan Nixon.

The Tricky Trees are looking to press on with their transfer plans after a quiet start to the summer by appointing Barnsley's Dane Murphy as their new CEO, and they've already tried their luck by bidding for Derby County left-back Lee Buchanan.

Those attempts have failed for now, but it looks as though they're plotting a raid on another divisional rival in the Royals for 26-year-old Laurent.

Laurent joined the Berkshire side from Shrewsbury Town last summer, and to the surprise of many he ended up being one of the club's top players as they just missed out on a Championship play-off place.

Despite Lucas Joao being a prolific scorer and Michael Olise dazzling fans, Laurent was named Reading's Player of the Season for his performances and in the following weeks transfer interest emerged from the likes of Rangers and Brighton, per The Sun.

A figure of £8 million was quoted as a potential fee but now with less than a year remaining on his current contract at the Madejski Stadium, coupled with Reading's sanctions due to breaching the EFL's Profit and Sustainability rules, it could take a bid significantly less than that to tempt the club to part company with one of their prized assets.

The Verdict

Laurent was a real low-risk acquisition last summer from League One, but it turns out he could end up making the Royals quite a bit of profit.

It's quite a surprise though that Forest are interested - despite Reading's financial issues right now it would still take a decent fee to prize Laurent from the club and it's hard to see the Reds paying anything like what it would no doubt take to purchase the 26-year-old.

Stranger things have happened though and Forest will have already done their research on Laurent, so it could mean that Evangelos Marinakis is planning to splash the cash in August to strengthen Chris Hughton's hand - in that potential case it would be a bitter blow for Reading if they lost their Player of the Season to a divisional rival.