Nottingham Forest have been handed a huge boost to their chances of keeping Joe Worrall at The City Ground this summer.
What's the talk?
That's according to a claim made by Alan Nixon, with The Sun journalist revealing in a post on Twitter that Forest were under the impression that Brentford would be attempting to complete a deal for the centre-back last weekend. However, the Premier League newcomers appear to have turned their attention elsewhere in the transfer market.
Earlier reports had claimed that, along with the Bees, the likes of Burnley, Norwich City and West Ham were all considering a move for the 24-year-old in the summer transfer window, with the Reds believed to be demanding a fee in the region of £10m in order to part with the defender ahead of next season.
However, if Nixon's latest comments are anything to go by, it now appears that Brentford - who looked as if they were leading the race for the former England under-21 international - are no longer interested in Worrall, with the journalist stating: "Forest thought Worrall was going to Brentford at weekend. Brentford now going for someone else."
Fans surely buzzing
Considering just how important Worrall has been for Forest in recent seasons, Nixon's 15-word update hinting that the centre-back's departure from The City Ground looks increasingly unlikely this summer is sure to have left fans of the club buzzing.
The 24-year-old impressed over his 31 Championship appearances for Chris Hughton's side last season, with the £3.6m-rated man helping his team to keep 12 clean sheets, averaging 1.1 interceptions, 0.8 tackles and 4.2 clearances and winning 3.5 duels per game.
The £10k-per-week defender also chipped in for his team going forwards, bagging one goal, registering one assist and averaging 0.3 key passes per league game.
These metrics saw the man who Steven Gerrard dubbed an "outstanding" player earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.94, ranking him as the Garibaldi's fifth-best performer in the Championship last time out.
As such, with Hughton undoubtedly hoping to improve upon his team's disappointing 17th-placed Championship finish from last season, keeping hold of Worrall this summer would very much appear to provide the 62-year-old with a huge boost to Forest's chances of doing so
With a little while left before the transfer window slams shut at the end of August, Forest fans should not take this latest update to mean that Worrall will definitely be playing his football for their club next season, although it certainly seems a big step towards him staying put.
In other news: Imagine him & Grabban: Murphy must seal Forest swoop for £36k-p/w "leader" this summer