Nottingham Forest's hopes of signing Monaco striker Jean-Kevin Augustin look to have taken a blow, with the 22-year-old preferring a move to the Reds' Championship rivals Leeds United, reports in France claim.
Augustin is on loan in the Principality from German Bundesliga outfit Red Bull Leipzig, but has struggled for regular starts in Ligue 1 leading to claims in France that the player is keen to move.
A move for Augustin would likely be a loan until the end of the season with a view to making the switch permanent in the summer.
Leeds, like Forest, are desperate to add firepower to their respective promotion bids and would appear to be frontrunners in the race to sign the former PSG academy graduate, who in his 10 league games this term has yet to find the net, though he is highly-regarded - his only goal came against Marseille in the French Cup.
According to L'Équipe, the player is keen on moving to Elland Road and playing under head coach Marcelo Bielsa, with the Whites sitting second in the Championship, just four points ahead of Sabri Lamouchi's Forest - and the pair meet at the City Ground in two weeks' time.
Both clubs have been tracking similar players this month, with deals for Dwight Gayle, Andre Gray and Che Adams all hitting the buffers.
Forest, meanwhile, are said to retain interest in QPR striker Nahki Wells who is on loan at the west London club from Burnley.
Speaking after Friday night's 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Sheffield Wednesday where Wells came off the bench to grab an injury-time consolation, boss Mark Warburton was coy on suggestions his in-form frontman could leave before Friday's deadline.
“I know Sean exceptionally well and we've kept in touch and vice versa,” Warburton told the media after Friday’s outing.
"They're happy with their loan players' progress, we're happy with the loan players' progress and Nahki is very happy at QPR so that's all I know at the moment."
