Brentford have had a club-record bid of more than £35m rejected for the Nottingham Forest forward Brennan Johnson. Brentford hold a longstanding interest in Johnson, who is thought to be open to leaving Forest, his boyhood club.
Brentford have tracked Johnson for more than two years and their head coach, Thomas Frank, is keen on recruiting the Wales international. Forest value Johnson at about £50m but Brentford are not willing to pay over the odds. Brentford’s offer, including add-ons, would have taken the financial package to about £40m.
As it stands Brentford are not thought to be willing to increase their bid. Their record outlay is the £23m they paid Wolves for the centre-back Nathan Collins this summer.
Meanwhile the Spain goalkeeper David Raya could leave Brentford for Bayern Munich but the clubs have so far failed to reach an agreement. Brentford want about £40m for Raya, who continues to train with the squad in Washington.
They signed the Netherlands international Mark Flekken from Freiburg in May to be their new No 1, after Raya made clear he did not want to renew his contract, which expires next summer.
Brentford have signed Collins and the winger Kevin Schade for more than £40m this window and are keen to strengthen their attack after Ivan Toney’s eight-month suspension for breaching Football Association betting rules. Johnson is set to return to training next week after sustaining an ankle injury with Wales last month.
Forest, who have signed Anthony Elanga and Ola Aina this summer, remain in talks with Manchester United about a deal for the goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who spent last season on loan at the City Ground.
They are negotiating about a potential second loan with an obligation to buy after a certain number of appearances. United want the obligation to kick in after no more than 10 appearances, whereas Forest want the figure set at about 30 because Henderson has not played since sustaining a thigh injury in January.
United favour a low number because they want the transfer fee, which would be about £20m plus £5m in add-ons, paid by January to help them comply with financial fair play regulations.
