Lincoln City pushing to beat Walsall and Bradford City to Nottingham Forest transfer | OneFootball

Gardner has been linked with a move to the LNER Stadium in recent days

Lincoln City are wanting to close a deal with Nottingham Forest for the services of highly-rated forward, Joe Gardner.

This is according to Alan Nixon, who has revealed such news via his Patreon service on Wednesday afternoon.

The Imps are one of a handful of sides which have monitored the striker's situation at the City Ground, and are looking to strike an agreement with the side currently one of many surprise packages in the Premier League so far this season, as Forest remain in the UEFA Champions League places at present.

As a result, Gardner has found first-team football extremely hard to come by in recent times, despite continuing to flourish for the Reds' Under-23's side in the Premier League 2 so far this season.

And, with interest from sides at the top end of League Two including Walsall and Bradford City still lingering, Michael Skubala's men are looking to wrap up a move for the 19-year-old as swiftly as possible, after this particular transfer saga looks to have taken a fresh twist.

It was revealed last week by Football Insider that Lincoln found themselves behind the League Two leaders, Walsall, in the race for the forward's signature, as he looks for regular first-team minutes for the first time in the infancy of his professional career.

There was also interest in Gardner from a quartet of other League Two sides prior to the beginning of the winter transfer window, with the likes of Notts County, Doncaster Rovers, Harrogate Town and Morecambe all monitoring his situation.

But, as per Nixon's fresh report, it looks as though the League One side, who currently find themselves 11th in the table, have edged in front of the Saddlers and Bradford City for the man who has made just one appearance in senior football with Forest, which came in the FA Cup Fourth Round replay over Bristol City last term.

However, Gardner has featured three times in the EFL Trophy this season, and scored against Carlisle United back in September.

Nixon states that a deal between Forest and the Imps is likely to be secured if sufficient gametime can be promised, as Gardner would "definitely start in League Two" amid interest from the two promotion hopefuls.

Lincoln City are already striker-heavy at present

Despite the promise which surrounds Gardner, having found the net six times in the youth ranks for Forest this term - including a hat-trick against Everton - the Imps' current options do beg the question as to why Skubala is so keen to add even further depth at centre-forward.

After interest from the aforementioned Walsall earlier in the window, the Lincoln boss made it clear that Freddie Draper would be remaining at the club, whilst the recent signing of the experienced James Collins from Derby County provides a different dimension, whilst Jovon Makama has also featured 25 times in the league thus far.

Of course, it was a blow for Lincoln to lose joint-top scorer Bailey Cadamarteri to a six-week injury, but that doesn't necessarily mean that signing yet another attacker is a viable solution, although Nixon hasn't disclosed whether, this time, a deal is a loan or permanent, despite previous reports.