Nottingham Forest are set to cancel Oleksandr Zinchenko’s season-long loan from Arsenal – with unhappy defender wanted by Ajax

Oleksandr Zinchenko is set to have his loan deal with Nottingham Forest cancelled within the next 24 hours.

The Arsenal defender has had an unhappy first half of the season at the City Ground and has been told he can leave, amid interest from Ajax.

Zinchenko’s departure would allow Forest to sign another player on loan during what is left of the January window as they try to give boss Sean Dyche a squad capable of avoiding relegation and making progress in the Europa League.

Forest have already signed Lorenzo Lucca on loan from Napoli for the remainder of the campaign and are working on a deal to bring in Jean-Philippe Mateta from Crystal Palace, who value their French forward at about £40m. 

Forest’s offer currently stands at about £35m and Palace are seeking a replacement before they allow Mateta to talk to other clubs. Both Juventus and AC Milan had shown interest in the 28-year-old.

Zinchenko’s fellow loanee Douglas Luiz is also set to leave the club before the window closes, as his former club Aston Villa are looking to take over his loan deal from Juventus. Luiz did not feature in the 2-0 win at Brentford, which Dyche said was due to illness. 

As Daily Mail Sport revealed on Monday, Forest have also shown interest in Lewis Dunk, though it is unclear at this stage whether the Brighton centre-back is keen to move to the City Ground.