Nottingham Forest will step up their efforts to sign Manchester City goalkeeper Arijanet Muric on loan.
Reds boss Martin O’Neill and goalkeeper coach Seamus McDonagh watched the Kosovan international help his side to a win in Bulgaria last weekend.
The duo were sufficiently impressed with the performance of the 20-year-old and the Championship club have now installed him as one of their summer targets.
O’Neill carefully assessed his goalkeeping options in the final months of last season, giving Luke Steele an opportunity to show what he can do in games against Sheffield Wednesday and Bolton.
While Costel Pantilimon kept 15 Championship clean sheets and generally looked more assured between the posts, following the arrival of O’Neill and McDonagh, who worked hard to improve the big Romanian’s confidence.
But the capture of Muric would significantly strengthen their options.
The Swiss-born Kosovan is highly regarded in Manchester and was the regular understudy to Ederson for much of last season - and did play five games in the EFL Cup, as the Citizens plotted a course to the final.
Muric only conceded one goal during that run - and was the hero in a penalty shootout win over Leicester City in the quarter-finals - but was replaced in the final by Ederson, as City won the first silverware of their domestic treble, by beating Chelsea, again on penalties.
Pep Guardiola is keen to give Muric some more first team experience and is understood to have made Muric available for loan this summer.
Now Forest hope to position themselves at the front of the queue for his signature, after being impressed with his performance in that 3-2 win at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Bulgaria, as he won his third international cap.
Muric previously joined NAC Breda on loan last summer and played one game for them, in a 3-0 win over De Graafschap. But with his opportunities limited and with Claudio Bravo collecting an injury at City, he was recalled to Manchester in late August.
The 6ft 6in keeper began his career in the country of his birth, with Zurich and Grasshoppers, before signing a three year contract with City in the summer of 2017.
Forest will hope that the next chapter of his career will unfold at the City Ground.
