Brentford must pay club record fee to land Championship flier
Championship side Nottingham Forest are holding out for £18m for young winger Brennan Johnson.
The 20-year-old has attracted interest from a host of Premier League clubs, including Newcastle, Tottenham and West Ham.
But it is Brentford who are believed to be leading the chase, according to the Daily Mail.
If Forest do hold out for their valuation, it would exceed the Bees’ club record transfer.
New to the Premier League for 2021/22, Brentford paid £17.5m for defender Kristoffer Ajer from Celtic in the summer.
Forest may be forced to reluctantly sell Johnson to avoid losing him for free when his contract expires next summer.
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“We want to keep him”
Head coach Steve Cooper has previously said he doesn’t want the left-sided player to leave.
He told the Nottingham Post: “Of course we want to keep him, I don’t want to lose anybody in January that I want to stay.
“I haven’t even thought about him leaving. I’ve just thought about how he gets better, how we support him, how we push him, how we challenge him and how we get him to strive to do even better than what he’s doing.
“Now is not the time for him to stand still. It’s time for him to kick on even more.” The attacking winger has scored five goals in 30 appearances for the Reds, as well as an impressive loan spell at League One side Lincoln City.
In 40 appearances for the Imps, he got ten goals.
Brentford’s bid is ten percent short of the current asking price, but Forest are also looking for a 15 percent sell-on clause.
Brennan Johnson is said to be committed to the club even with the rumoured potential move. A side his father, David, played for has always been close to his heart.
The Championship side are five points off the playoff places in tenth place, with Johnson being a huge part of that by only missing three games.
READ MORE: Nottingham Forest fail with second bid for in-demand winger
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