Signed for free, now worth £15m: Forest struck gold on "outstanding" £10k-p/w "leader" - opinion

Nottingham Forest are one victory away from a first Premier League season since 1999 having reached the Championship play-off final where they will meet Huddersfield Town for a place in the top-flight.

The Reds were stunned on Tuesday evening as Sheffield United came from 3-1 down on aggregate to level the tie at 3-3 before Steve Cooper’s side were victorious on penalties.

It’s been a magnificent campaign for Forest with the Welshman masterminding an incredible turnaround after a poor start to the season under Chris Hughton with defender Joe Worrall at the heart of their success.

The 25-year-old was incredibly close to a Premier League transfer last summer with a potential £15m move to Brentford reported by the Mirror.

However, Forest have reaped the rewards of having the boyhood fan and academy product stay at the City Ground this term.

Labelled as “outstanding” as well as being a “leader” by former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, this term has undoubtedly been the Englishman’s best having made 41 appearances in the Championship and play-offs this term, keeping 16 clean sheets whilst averaging a 7.07/10 match rating, the fifth-highest tally for an outfield Forest player.

Moreover, Worrall has averaged 1.8 interceptions, 1.9 tackles and 3.1 clearances a match.

Despite the £15m price tag reported last summer, the £10k-per-week defender’s market value during his career has certainly moved around frequently.

When the 25-year-old made his first-team debut in the 2016/17 season, he was valued at just £90k before that quickly rose to £900k.

However, by February 2018 Worrall was valued at £7.2m before joining Rangers on loan for the 2018/19 season.

Upon his return, the defender’s value decreased by £1.8m to £5.4m despite making