The Insider: Portsmouth target is all-round midfielder who is highly regarded by Nottingham ForestÂ

In the summer, Yates was with the Forest squad on their pre-season tour to Spain.

He played in all of the friendlies out there, did very well and looked quite bright.

Yates is highly regarded. Forest have quite a good academy here. There have been quite a few players who have come through and he looked like he'd be the next one to make the step up as a first-team regular.

The plan was to send him out on loan in the summer. But the club were that pleased with his development that they held fire a little bit.

Without sounding harsh, Yates got a chance in the Carabao Cup against Bury and got taken off at half-time because he had a tough first period.

At that point, Forest decided he needed to go out on loan but nothing materialised. 

Yates is still very highly regarded, though, and they see him as a bright prospect for the future.

I don't think they'd be in a hurry to let him go permanently. A move away would be a view to him playing some matches and then coming back to Forest in the summer as a better prospect.

Yates is very strong, physical and combative. But he has a bit more about him than just that.

He's got a good sense of timing when to get into the box, aerially he is a threat from set-pieces and is quite dynamic.

Perhaps Yates isn't the quickest but he gets around the pitch well and has a lot of energy. 

He doesn't mind getting stuck in when he has to.

The under-23 football standard isn't great these days but he stands out there when he plays. He's been head and shoulders above a lot of the others.

Yates is just a good all-round midfielder. Forest fans love to see one of their own come through and they'd be pleased if he went out like he did on loan previously.

He's had two loan moves previously and helped Scunthorpe get to the League One play-off semi-final last season.

I'm sure Yates will have an input on where he goes. It depends on what promises that get made from other clubs (about how much he will play).