Friday 4 July 2014 16:42, UK
Nottingham Forest have turned down a £4million offer from Queens Park Rangers for centre-half Jamaal Lascelles.
The 20-year-old defender has been generating Premier League interest for some time, with the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur reported to have been closely monitoring his development while he was still part of Forest’s academy ranks.
The 2013/14 campaign proved to be a breakthrough one for Lascelles, with injuries to senior team-mates seeing him entrusted with a regular role at the heart of the back four.
The youngster thrived under the responsibility and remained one of Forest’s most consistent performers as their season started to unravel after the turn of the year.
Bids were expected this summer, with home-grown talent always highly sought-after.
Top flight new boys QPR have made the first official approach, but they have been left in little doubt that the terms currently on the table fall some way short of Forest’s valuation.
Not that the Reds have any intention of selling, with new boss Stuart Pearce determined to keep the youthful core of the squad he has inherited intact – with the likes of Karl Darlow and Henri Lansbury also generating transfer gossip.
