Port Vale edge close to striking Nottingham Forest loan agreement | OneFootball

Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly is poised to join League One club Port Vale on loan for the rest of the season, as per a Twitter update from journalist Lyall Thomas.

The 19-year-old, who joined the Premier League club in 2019 from Irish Premiership club Dungannon Swifts, signed his professional deal with the Premier League club 18 months ago.

Donnelly, who made his first-team debut for the Midlands outfit back in August during a 3-0 victory over Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup, extended his contract at Forest last month.

Yet to feature in a matchday squad in England’s top flight, most of Donnelly’s minutes this season have come in Premier League 2 thus far.

Quiz: Are these 20 Port Vale facts real or fake?

1 of 20

Port Vale were first formed in 1876?

Real Fake

Port Vale currently sit 13th in the third-tier standings, however, they can jump up the table to ninth if they were to win their game in hand.

The verdict

Donnelly is an exciting prospect that Nottingham Forest evidently rate very highly and a League One loan move could be extremely beneficial at this stage of his development.

Proving to be a versatile option for Forest’s U21s this season, Donnelly has operated as a left-wing-back, left-back in a solid back four and as a central defender when required.

This kind of versatility could be extremely useful for Valiants boss Darrell Clarke, especially with the fixture list looking rather congested during the second part of the campaign.

A Northern Ireland U21 international too, a successful League One loan stint could help pave the way for Donnelly to progress through to his country’s senior set up.