Nahki Wells has seen his name drawn in the Nottingham Forest striker lottery, and he has the potential to be a winning selection for the Reds.
Given the sheer volume of options to have been linked with moves to the City Ground of late, you never know how much substance there is to these reports.
West London Sport have suggested that Forest are in the mix.
Unsurprisingly, any move for the Burnley-owned forward will see competition faced.
Wells is currently taking in a season-long loan spell at QPR.
Given he has recorded 14 goals for them across all competitions, former Reds boss Mark Warburton will be reluctant to let him go.
Burnley, though, have a recall option.
Sean Dyche is giving little away when it comes to the Clarets’ plans.
He has said, in quotes covered by the Nottingham Post: “I don’t think we’ll interrupt him at this moment in time. It seems to be going well, and do you need to affect that?
“There is a break clause. We try to be as honourable as we can, and honour the contract if we say it’s for a season. But there’s always a break clause, to suit both teams, and the player.”
That is some fine sitting on the fence from Dyche.
‘There is a clause and we may or may not trigger it.’
Scramble
(Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images)
Any official approach from Forest to those at Turf Moor could force the issue.
The scramble has very much been sparked to get bodies on board before the January deadline.
Sabri Lamouchi has hinted at being no closer to striking additions.
Smoke and mirrors is, however, all part of the fun.
If the Reds want to make a show of intent, then Wells would be a fine route to go down.
He could be considered of a similar mould to Lewis Grabban, but that is no bad thing.
Forest’s leading man has found the target 16 times this season.
Finding another suitably reliable source of goals would be most welcome.
Wells certainly knows where the back of the net is.
Steps up to the Premier League have proved too big for him so far, but he has mastered the art of terrorising second tier defences.
To the point that he only sits behind Grabban and ex-Forest frontman Britt Assombalonga on a notable goal chart.
Force
Over the last five or so years, stretching back to the start of the 2014-15 campaign, Wells has netted 58 times in the Championship.
Across that time span, Grabban leads the way on 67.
Assombalonga, now on the books at Middlesbrough, has 65 efforts to his name.
Jordan Rhodes, Daryl Murphy (another familiar face), Jarrod Bowen and Chris Martin are the only other men to have passed a half-century.
Forest’s current No.7 also leads the way when it comes to goals per minutes.
Grabban averages out at one every 166.03, with Wells back at 235.12.
It is, however, clear that the Bermudian is a force to be reckoned with at this level.
With those at the City Ground desperately trying to get over the line inside the top six, proven performers are very much the order of the day.
Foreign fancies acquired last summer have delivered rich reward and there is obvious value to be found down those avenues.
Wells, though, would require no settling in period.
In that sense he slips seamlessly into a bracket alongside the likes of Glenn Murray, Che Adams, Dwight Gayle and Connor Wickham.
He could, however, be the pick of the bunch and a jackpot-winning line for ambitious Forest.