Nottingham Forest have a busy summer transfer window ahead of them after clinching promotion to the Premier League on Sunday.

Steve Cooper's men utilised the loan market incredibly well to improve their starting XI and may need to replace the impact that James Garner, Philip Zinckernagel and Keinan Davis made.

With the TV money they receive about to sharply increase, the Reds may be able to cherry-pick talent from the Championship and land players that they financially were not able to before.

According to The Athletic, Reading defender Tom Holmes could be someone who receives interest from Forest this summer, as was confirmed in a piece by Paul Taylor this morning.

He wrote: "Forest have a long-held interest in Reading defender Tom Holmes and his versatility could be seen as an asset."

Holmes does not jump off the page as a defender ready to make the leap to the Premier League next season, but Cooper's ability to improve players cannot underestimated and the Reds may feel that they have spotted something in the 22-year-old that could see him acclimatise successfully.

It is hard to think of anyone getting in ahead of the current back three of Joe Worrall, Steve Cook and Scott McKenna to start the first game of next season, but Holmes would bolster the depth chart.

The Verdict

Holmes has been offered a new contract after his deal recently reached its conclusion.

However, the lure of Forest could be too much to turn down with the Royals' prospects in 2022/23 not looking promising at this stage.

A compensation payment to Reading would be required due to Holmes' age but he could still represent value in the market compared to some of the Reds' other targets.

With Tobias Figueiredo's contract expiring, Forest need to strengthen their second string and Holmes would arguably be an upgrade on Loic Mbe Soh and Jonathan Panzo.

It may be difficult for Holmes to leave his boyhood club in their current predicament, but it would be a career-changing move to play in the top-flight for the first time.