Imagine him & Johnson: Cooper can unearth a gem in NFFC's "lovely" rarely-seen 21 y/o - opinion

Nottingham Forest are one of the EFL’s most in form sides having lost just one league game in 2022 with Steve Cooper’s side very much in the picture for a playoff spot come the end of the season.

Having beaten Birmingham City 2-0 at the City Ground on Saturday, the Reds are now third in the Championship table and have an outside shot at sneaking into the automatic promotion places with second place Bournemouth six points ahead with seven games to go.

It’s been a marvellous turnaround for the East Midlands club under Steve Cooper, who has made a colossal impact in the Forest dugout, with the Welshman looking set to lead a side to a top-six finish for the third consecutive season.

The likes of Brennan Johnson, Lewis Grabban, Ryan Yates and Keinan Davis have all been fit and firing over the course of the season. However, Cooper’s talented squad could be further improved with the addition of U23s striker Will Swan who has enjoyed an impressive campaign in Premier League 2.

21-year-old Swan has scored 12 goals and assisted a further four in 18 appearances for Forest in Premier League 2 this season and is certainly one of the youth setup’s hottest prospects.

The East Midlands outfit sit third in the second division of the Premier League youth league after an impressive campaign with the English striker’s goals a major contributing factor to their success.

Swan has had various loan spells without truly making the grade at Forest yet but the forward will undoubtedly be knocking on the door of Cooper.

The loan signing of Keinan Davis from Aston Villa in January certainly boosted the Welshman’s striking options, but at the same time limited the opportunities that could’ve been handed to Swan.

Although, if Davis isn’t to make his