Nottingham Forest will require an eight-figure fee in order to let Joe Worrall leave The City Ground this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by The Athletic, who claim that a fee of £10m would be enough for Chris Hughton's side to consider the sale of the 24-year-old centre-back this summer.

It has been reported that the likes of Norwich City, Burnley and West Ham United are keeping a close eye on the defender ahead of a potential move in the summer market, although just how receptive Forest will be to offer for Worrall remains unclear at present.

Fans should be worried

While £10m is undoubtedly a sizeable amount of money for a Championship club to receive, particularly for a player who is home-grown, is it questionable whether this figure truly represents Worrall's importance to the Nottingham Forest side.

Despite the club having something of a campaign to forget last season, with the Reds finishing in a lowly 17th place in the second tier, it could have been a whole lot worse without the presence of the £3.6m-rated man in the heart of the Forest defence.

Indeed, over his 31 league appearances for Hughton's side last season, the defender helped his side keep 12 clean sheets, in addition to making an average of 1.1 interceptions, 0.8 tackles, 4.2 clearances and winning 3.5 duels per game.

The £10k-per-week 24-year-old also helped his side out in an attacking capacity, bagging one goal, registering one assist and making an average of 0.3 key passes per fixture.

These returns saw the player Steven Gerrard dubbed an "outstanding" talent earn a seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.94, ranking him as the Garibaldi's fifth-best performer in the second tier of English football.

As such, while Forest ultimately avoided a relegation fight last season, without Worrall in the side, things certainly would have been a lot tenser during the final weeks of the season at The City Ground, leading us to question whether selling the defender for a figure of £10m is actually worth the risk for Hughton and his team, as the 24-year-old will undoubtedly go on to star for Forest once again next season - if he remains at the club.

So, with interest in the Nottingham-born centre-back not appearing to be going away, fans of the club should certainly be worried about their side's future without Worrall.

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