Report: Nottingham Forest man could seal £4m Premier League move ‘in next 24 hours’
Soccer Football - Championship - Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Nottingham Forest - Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, Britain - January 20, 2018 Nottingham Forest's Ben Osborn celebrates scoring their second goal Action Images/Andrew Boyers EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or "live" services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
According to Barry Cooper of Nottinghamshire Live, Ben Osborn is close to completing his move to Sheffield United. He could be the 10th player sold by Forest this summer after Panagiotis Tachtsidis (Leece), Stephen Henderson (Crystal Palace), Apostolos Vellios (Atromitos), Hillal Soudani (Olympiacos), Karim Ansarifard (Al Saliya), Jorge Grant (Lincoln City), Jamie Ward (released), Liam Bossin (released) and Juan Rafael Fuentes (released).
Manager Chris Wilder says the Nottingham Forest midfielder could join the Blades “in the next 24 hours”. He told BBC Radio Sheffield: “Yes, we’ve been in discussions with Nottingham Forest regarding Ben, so I think that’s open and out there. We’re hoping to conclude that. It’s important that we get the squad structure right and have some real competition and Ben’s an outstanding performer for Forest and hopefully we can get that over the line in the next 24/48 hours.”
Osborn could be on the move for a fee in excess of £4m. He would have been a useful squad player for Forest this season, but his contract at the City Ground only had a year to run. The Reds clearly wanted to cash on in the 24-year-old rather than risk losing him for nothing next year, so they accepted United’s offer. Since rising through the youth ranks to the Forest first-team in 2014, Osborn has gone on to make 230 appearances in all competitions, scoring and creating 47 goals.
Whether Forest are lining up a replacement for the midfielder remains to be seen, however.