Nottingham Forest have confirmed to The Royal Gazette that they are keen to land Shaun Goater.

The First Division side - whose interest was revealed in yesterday's newspaper - are the first club to officially come and out say they want to sign the 33-year-old who is available after becoming surplus to requirements at Premiership City.

Division rivals Sunderland are also thought to be in the market for the Bermudian, with manager Mick McCarthy expressing his admiration for the player just last week.

Forest's confirmation may be the start of some frenzied action as the start of the new season nears and teams begin to finalise their squads.

Club spokesman Fraser Nicholson told The Gazette: "I can confirm that Nottingham Forest are interested in signing Shaun Goater.

"Shaun is a player that (manager) Paul Hart would like to have on board at The City Ground."

Ironically, Forest had Goater's Manchester City team-mate Darren Huckerby on loan towards the end of last season.

The club were involved in the end of year promotion play-offs and it was widely thought that if they made it to the Premiership they would seek to make the striker's move permanent.

That did not happen as they were knocked out by Sheffield United and Huckerby as now returned to Manchester.

The interest in Goater would suggest they either rate him more highly or that unlike the Islander, Huckerby was not prepared to play First Division football on a permanent basis.

Forest have three strikers on their books at the moment - Marlon Harewood, David Johnson and 18-year-old Craig Westcarr. They released another frontman in Jack Lester at the end of the last campaign and he has now joined Sheffield United - another team who were thought to be in the hunt for Goater.

Danish international defender Niclas Jensen has left Manchester City and signed a three-year deal with Borussia Dortmund, the German First Division side said yesterday.

The Germans are reported to have spent around 1.25 million euros for the 28-year-old.