• Nottingham Forest have held talks with Feyenoord over Man City transfer target Givairo Read

• The 20-year-old right-back is understood to be on Manchester City’s watchlist this summer

• Read’s emergence comes as Man City continue their search for a new right-back under Enzo Maresca

Manchester City have Feyenoord right-back Givairo Read on their watchlist this summer, with Nottingham Forest having already held talks with the Dutch club over a potential move for the 20-year-old, as per a new report.

Givairo Read has emerged as one of the more talked-about young defenders in European football following a promising campaign at Feyenoord, with the right-back’s composure in possession, athleticism and ability to contribute in the attacking phase attracting the attention of clubs well beyond the Eredivisie.

Manchester City’s search for a new right-back has been one of the more persistent challenges of an otherwise active summer window for director of football Hugo Viana, with the position having proven difficult to address through the conventional market as the window has progressed.

Givairo Read breaks long-held silence on Manchester City transfer talk after Robin van Persie blessing

The pursuit of Malo Gusto from Chelsea stalled over a valuation disagreement, with Manchester City unwilling to meet Chelsea’s £75 million asking price and prepared to explore alternative options should the gap between the two clubs remain unbridged – a stance that has prompted Viana’s recruitment team to cast a wider net across the market.

Read now appears to be among the names that net has identified, though City’s interest at this stage appears to be observational rather than active, with his name on a watchlist suggesting he is a player the club intend to monitor closely rather than one they are currently pursuing in earnest.

Report: Forest in talks with Feyenoord as Man City watch from distance

According to Simon Jones of Mail Sport, Nottingham Forest have spoken to Feyenoord about a move for Read, with the right-back also understood to be on Manchester City’s watchlist as Viana continues to assess options across the position.

Forest’s involvement adds a further competitive dimension to the picture, with the City Ground club having demonstrated a willingness to recruit from the Eredivisie in recent windows and now apparently moving ahead of Manchester City in the race to open formal talks with Feyenoord over the Netherlands international’s availability.

The timing of Forest’s approach is notable, arriving in the same window in which they received a record £116 million from Manchester City for Elliot Anderson, giving George Syrianos and his recruitment team the financial firepower to move quickly and decisively for targets across Europe this summer.

Read’s profile as an attacking, energetic right-back with the technical quality to thrive in a possession-based system maps closely to the requirements Enzo Maresca has outlined for the position at the Etihad Stadium, though whether City would be prepared to move beyond watchlist status to make a formal approach while Forest are already in conversation with Feyenoord remains to be seen.

Manchester City frontrunners to sign Feyenoord’s Givairo Read – Bayern Munich transfer interest takes backseat

What does Read’s emergence mean for Man City’s right-back search?

The addition of Read to City’s watchlist suggests Viana is keeping multiple options under active consideration as the right-back search enters what is becoming an increasingly important phase of the summer, with pre-season preparations edging closer and Maresca’s preference for a settled squad growing more pressing with every week that passes.

Read’s age – 20 years old – places him in a similar developmental bracket to the profile of signing City have frequently targeted in recent windows under Viana’s direction, though the presence of Forest in active negotiations with Feyenoord suggests that if City’s interest were to move beyond observation, they would need to act quickly to avoid being beaten to a deal by a Premier League rival for the second time this summer having already lost out on Sandro Tonali to Tottenham Hotspur.

Whether City’s watchlist interest in Read develops into something more concrete, or whether the club ultimately find a way to revive their pursuit of Gusto should Chelsea’s valuation soften, is set to become one of the defining questions in the ongoing right-back search that Viana must resolve before Maresca’s first competitive season gets underway at the Etihad Stadium.

Forest’s head start in talks with Feyenoord gives the City Ground club a meaningful advantage at this stage, and how Manchester City respond to that development in the coming days and weeks will offer a clearer sense of how seriously Read features in Viana’s thinking as a genuine option rather than simply a name on a list.