EXCLUSIVE: Forest closing on deal for French attacking midfielder

Nottingham Forest are closing in on a deal for French prospect Ilyas El Khabchi, we can exclusively reveal.

The 21-year-old was spotted by a British scout playing lower league football in France.

The attacking midfielder was with fifth tear Jura Dolois, but is not contracted to them so took the chance to come to England and try his luck.

He was taken to Forest on trial and has caught the eye of Forest’s French coach Sabri Lamouchi, and they are set to hand him a deal before he gets the chance to train anywhere else.

Lamouchi is keen to test the player out for their U23s side before seeing if he’s capable of pushing for a place in their first-team squad and is expected to be handed an initial deal until the end of the season.

Forest went into the international break second in the Championship and there is a growing feeling among supporters that they could mount a genuine push for promotion back to the Premier League this season.