Nottingham Forest are only willing to sell their highly-rated England Under-20 defender this month if he is loaned back to the City Ground until the end of the season

By Wayne Veysey | Chief Correspondent

Nottingham Forest have placed a £3 million price tag on Arsenal and Liverpool target Jamaal Lascelles but are only willing to sell him in January if he is loaned back until the end of the season.

The two Premier League big hitters are leading the race for the England Under-20 defender, who has also attracted interest from Tottenham and Newcastle United.

Arsenal stepped up their pursuit of Lascelles by dispatching chief scout Steve Rowley to watch him in action against Bolton Wanderers last Saturday.

Forest are braced for offers this month for the highly-rated centre-back, who has been compared in some quarters to a young Sol Campbell.

The Championship club do not want to lose Lascelles but accept that it would be difficult to reject a bid that matches their £3m valuation.

One of the conditions they will place on a sale in this window is that the 20-year-old spends the rest of the campaign on loan, much as Wilfried Zaha did when he joined Manchester United from Crystal Palace a year ago.

Forest’s terms could put off Arsene Wenger, who refused to agree to loan-back deals when Arsenal were negotiating to sign Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the January windows of 2006 and 2011. Oxlade-Chamberlain eventually moved from Southampton the following summer.

Tottenham came close to signing Lascelles in the summer of 2012 after he had been recommended by David Pleat, the former White Hart Lane manager and director of football, who had been advising the club in an unofficial capacity on young English players since leaving his role as a consultant to Forest the previous year.

The 6ft 2in defender, who is regarded as one of the best central defenders in his age group in the country and has been capped at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 level for England, has established himself in the Forest team over recent months and the club are reportedly keen to offer him an improved contract.

The Liverpool striker made a goalscoring return from injury against Stoke City and his manager feels it is only a matter of time before he emulates team-mate Luis Suarez

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes Daniel Sturridge has “every quality” needed to become a “world-class” striker.

Sturridge, who had been sidelined for around six weeks with an ankle injury, made a goalscoring return in the 5-3 win over Stoke City last Sunday, taking his tally for the season to 12 in all competitions.

The striker has formed a lethal partnership with Luis Suarez, the Premier League’s top goalscorer, and Rodgers has backed the England man to join his team-mate in being considered as one of the game’s great players.

“My opinion on Daniel has only been reinforced through the time that I have worked with him,” Rodgers said. “Overall I think he’s got a wonderful opportunity over the next couple of years of being world class.

“He has every tool, he has every quality to be a world-class striker, similar to what Luis Suarez is. If we get him onto the field on a regular basis, if he gets a bit of luck and stays clear of injury, then he can be [world class] for sure.

“This period out with injury has refreshed him mentally. He comes back in the second part of the season now in a real good moment.

“I think it really signified how hard he worked in his injury period when he came into the game at the weekend.

“He made an immediate impact, physically he looked very strong and mobile and fast in his reactions. That’s a great credit to him and how focused he’s been on getting back.”

Rodgers also revealed that he was looking at options to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window, but admitted there had been “no real developments”.

“We’ve been working over a number of months on possibilities that could strengthen the team,” the Northern Irishman added. “We just need to wait and see how that goes in the next couple of weeks.”

The Reds have won three consecutive games and new Betway customers can get an exclusive price on another high scoring win in Saturday’s match with Aston Villa

Betting Special

The most entertaining Premier League game last weekend saw Liverpool claim three points at the Britannia Stadium thanks to a dramatic 5-3 win over Mark Hughes’ men.

After starting the season with three consecutive 1-0 wins, clean sheets have been a problem for Brendan Rodgers of late, with his side recording just two in their last 10 Premier League matches. With Jose Enrique, Daniel Agger and Jon Flanagan all side-lined through injury, Brendan Rodger’s men look far from confident at the back.

Saturday’s opponents Aston Villa will be encouraged by what they saw at Stoke, with some particularly accommodating defending allowing the Potters to claw their way back into the game before eventually succumbing to Liverpool’s superior firepower. Saturday’s visitors are available at 11/1 (12.0) to stun the Reds with a win, the draw trades at 5/1 (6.0).

Due to Liverpool’s impressive goalscoring record this season there are some short prices in the anytime goalscorer market. Luis Suarez (7/20) and Daniel Sturridge (7/10) are both very short with penalty taker and captain Steven Gerrard priced at 31/20 (2.55) to score anytime. For the visitors, Christian Benteke, who scored his first goal in 12 games against Arsenal, is a 3/1 (4.0) shot to score at Anfield.

Despite losing four of their last six matches in all competitions, Villa have found the net in five of those games and as a result it’s no surprise to see Liverpool to win and both teams to score at a best price of 2/1 (3.0).

New Betway customers can get an exclusive price of 5/1 (6.0) on this market though, giving punters a great opportunity to profit from a game where this selection looks a particularly appealing one. This offer is exclusive to Goal readers who sign up through the links on this page.

Paul Lambert’s side managed to find the net against Arsenal on Monday but their efforts were in vein as a quickfire double from Jack Wilshere and Olivier Giroud proved decisive and Liverpool – who are just 1/4 (1.25) to record a fourth successive win – look unlikely to drop more points as they battle to remain inside the top four.

At the current best price of 2/1 (3.0) this bet is given a 33 per cent chance of proving a correct selection, with Betway’s exclusive price, the implied chance of success percentage drops to 16.67%, meaning punters have a significantly better value proposition than backing  inferior prices elsewhere.

Jim Knight is Betting Editor at Goal and has been tipping football games since he was old enough to place a bet. He is a Leicester City fan, writer and member of the We Are Going Up Podcast