Nottingham Forest signed 22 new players over the summer transfer window in an ambitious effort to compete comfortably in the Premier League over the season ahead after they were promoted from the Championship play-offs.

Although Steve Cooper hasn't had the best start to the season with his team, who are currently 19th in the Premier League, it is clear that the club are keen to not only retain their top-flight status for years to come but also to build a high-quality and competitive team.

Despite buying what feels like a whole new squad at The City Ground, there have been a few mainstays in the team that continue to feature in Cooper's matchday line-ups with Steve Cook, Joe Worrall, Scott McKenna and Brennan Johnson all keeping their places.

However, instead of just buying players to improve and strengthen the squad over the months and seasons ahead, Nottingham Forest can save millions by continuing to develop talent in their academy, with one player, in particular, making it into The Guardian's 'Next Generation 2022' list.

Zach Abbott has been named in the top 20 young talents that the Premier League clubs have to offer this year, and the 16-year-old certainly deserves his spot amongst the other incredible rising stars the top tier has to offer.

The young centre-back who was dubbed has had a glistening assessment written about him in the publication this week by journalist Will Unwin.

Unwin claims that Cooper is a huge admirer of Abbott who is quality in one-on-one situations, extremely disciplined and as a consequence, is now learning his craft from the senior defenders at the club.

With that in mind, he stands out as someone who could, once Cook decides to call things a day, replace him in the squad. The former Bournemouth man has had an extremely disciplined career, thriving upon one-on-one duels where he battles with an attacker. In that sense, it would seem that Abbott is very much cut from the same sort of cloth.

Indeed, he has already made his senior team debut, featuring in the Carabao Cup against Grimsby which saw him become the second-youngest player to make a competitive appearance for Forest, albeit only making an eight minute cameo.

The talented teenager has also already been capped for England U16s and has made four appearances in the U17s team too, proving that he is catching the eye at not only club level but also on the international stage.

With that being said, the future is looking very bright for Abbott and he could well become the perfect heir to take over from 31-year-old Cook when the time comes for the centre-back to move on or retire at Nottingham Forest.