Nottingham Forest are closing in on a deal to sign Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard, according to The Guardian journalist Jacob Steinberg.

The Lowdown: Lingard to leave United

The 29-year-old has fallen out of favour at Old Trafford in recent years, being loaned out to West Ham during the 2020/21 campaign and only starting two Premier League games last season after returning to the north-west.

For that reason, Lingard was allowed to leave United when his contract expired earlier in the summer and he is now a free agent looking for a new challenge.

It looks as though Forest will snap up the Englishman, following a significant transfer update.

The Latest: Forest close in on move

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday evening, Steinberg shared an earlier update which claimed West Ham were moving in, dropping a new 'update' from the City Ground:

"Update on this … now told they Forest are close to agreeing a deal with Lingard. Not finalised yet but a fairly surprising development."

The Verdict: Exciting signing for Reds

This is a potentially excellent piece of business by Forest, bringing in a player with huge Premier League and international experience - he has been hailed as 'amazing' by Rio Ferdinand in the past and the numbers back it up.

Lingard racked up an incredible nine goals and four assists in juts 16 top flight games during his loan spell at the London Stadium, showing what a potent attacking threat he can be when given the confidence and freedom to thrive.

And he could thrive again being one of the star men at Forest, putting his experience and quality to good use and hopefully proving to be an inspirational figure for younger players around him, like Brennan Johnson and Taiwo Awoniyi.