Portsmouth are eyeing a £500,000 move for Nottingham Forest midfielder Ryan Yates, as per a report by Nottingham Live.
The 21-year-old has fallen down the pecking order at Forest under Aitor Karanka and could be set to leave them in the January transfer window.
Championship duo Hull City and Rotherham United were both keen on him in the summer and may reignite their interest and provide competition to Portsmouth next month.
Yates joined Nottingham Forest in 2005 and rose through their youth ranks. He got his first taste of senior football on loan at National League side Barrow at the start of the 2016/17 season and played 16 times for them before finishing the campaign on loan at Shrewsbury Town in League One.
The youngster was then shipped out to Notts County in August 2017 and played 29 games for them in all competitions, scoring 6 goals. He then returned to Forest in January but left again to join Scunthorpe United on loan for the rest of last season.
Yates has experience of playing in the third tier so far in his career and this would come in handy for Portsmouth. Kenny Jackett’s side are currently top of the league four points clear of Sunderland in second. They will be busy in January looking for players who can help bolster their promotion push back to the Championship and Yates would be ideal.
It would be strange though to see Forest selling him on a permanent basis as he could still have a future at the City Ground.
