Nottingham Forest are putting the building blocks in-place for their future as they confirmed that youngster Jamie McDonnell has signed a professional contract with the club.

The 17-year-old joined the Reds from Glentoran in the summer, linking up with the under-18 squad and he has impressed enough to be offered a professional contract already.

Midfielder McDonnell is a Northern Ireland youth international and has appeared 11 times for Forest's youth squad this campaign, and has also been called into the under-23 team as well.

There hasn't been many youth prospects in Forest's first-team squad this season, with only Alex Mighten really breaking through and making an impact.

The winger has scored a few goals for the Tricky Trees and looks to be the most exciting academy graduate for a few years, but there will be high hopes that McDonnell could be the next star to emerge.

Forest fans love to see their young players come through the ranks and make it, so there's some excitement at the news coming out of the City Ground today regarding McDonnell, in the hope that he may be a midfield lynchpin for years to come.

Check out some of the fan reaction from Twitter below.