Interest is growing in Nottingham Forest attacking midfielder Brennan Johnson this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by The Athletic, who claim that a host of clubs, including Brentford, Barnsley, Leeds United and Leicester City, have shown interest in the 20-year-old ahead of a potential move in the summer transfer window.

The Athletic have previously reported that Chris Hughton's side would demand a fee of around £10m in order to part with the Wales international, with Johnson having signed a new contract at the club back in 2019, a deal that is believed to still have two years left to run.

Hughton must not sell

Considering just how badly Forest struggled to find the back of the net last season, integrating the attacking midfielder who thrived while on loan at Lincoln City last term into the Forest side next year would certainly appear to go a long way to addressing these goalscoring issues.

Indeed, over his 43 League One appearances for Michael Appleton's side last term, the 20-year-old scored 11 goals, registered 13 assists and created four big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of 2.3 shots and making 0.7 key passes per game.

These metrics saw the £2.5k-per-week youngster earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.98, ranking him as Lincoln's sixth-best performer in the third tier of English football, playing a huge role in seeing the Imps reach the League One play-off final.

Johnson also impressed in the domestic cup competitions, scoring a further two goals and providing one assist over his five appearances in the FA Cup and EFL Trophy, taking his haul for the season to a highly impressive 13 goals and 14 assists in all competitions.

As such, regardless of whether or not Forest receive an offer of £10m for the man Sabri Lamouchi dubbed an "unbelievable" player this summer, Hughton should not even consider accepting a bid for the Welshman in the coming months, as Johnson could well prove to be the spark that fires the Garibaldi back towards the top end of the second tier table next time around.

In other news: Taylor drops Forest update over potential summer incoming, Hughton will be buzzing