Fulham are lining up an audacious late August move for Sheffield Wednesday forward Fernando Forestieri, according to this morning’s Sun.

The paper claims that Fulham are considering submitting a £12m bid for the Argentinian-born former Italian under-21 international, who has started just a league game for Sheffield Wednesday this season after a training ground bust-up with Sam Winnall, but that the Owls are holding out for an even bigger offer. Fulham head coach Slavisa Jokanovic had Forestieri, then on loan from Udinese, in his Watford side that won promotion to the Premier League in 2014/2015 and would keen on linking up with the mercurial talent again.

Wednesday would be more than justified in holding out for a big sum for Forestieri, considering his outstanding Championship record in the two seasons since moving to Hillsborough. He has scored 27 league goals in 73 appearances and with his artful and intelligent play has been one of the division’s most consistent creators of chances over the past four years. A late sale would free up funds for Carlos Carvalhal to re-invest in his squad – but the deal would have to be attractive to the Owls’ owner Dejphon Chansiri.

Fulham have already spent big on strikers in the transfer window – bringing in Rui Fonte and Aboubakar Kamara – and another arrival could be dependent on a departure with Sone Aluko being consistently linked with a move to Reading.