Jorge Grant: Notts County hope to keep in-form Nottingham Forest midfielder

Four of Jorge Grant's goals this season have come in two games which he started on the bench - the 2-0 home win over Chesterfield and the 3-0 win at Exeter

Notts County manager Kevin Nolan is keen to keep in-form Jorge Grant when the on-loan Nottingham Forest midfielder's deal with the League Two club comes up for renewal in January.

Grant, a hit with Notts in the second half of last season, returned to Meadow Lane on a season-long loan in July.

But Nolan has confirmed that there is a release clause in his contract.

"There is but not until January," Nolan told BBC Radio Nottingham. "We've just got to enjoy him while we've got him."

After scoring six times for Nolan's Notts in the final three months of last season, Grant has netted eight in 2017-18 and is League Two's joint-top scorer.

Grant's second double as super-sub

Nolan hopes Forest's backroom team of sport director Frank McParland, manager Mark Warburton and assistant manager David Weir will allow 22-year-old Grant to maintain his development with their city rivals.

"I'm sure we'll be having a bit of a discussion with Mark, David and Frank that I can keep him until the end of the season," said Nolan.

"I think we can keep improving him. We can still tweak a lot of stuff, and we're looking after him as much as we can as he hasn't had a full pre-season. We don't want to burn him out."

That was the thinking behind leaving Grant on the bench for Tuesday's meeting of second against first at Exeter, when he shone as a second-half substitute and scored twice.

It worked even more effectively as it did when Notts brought him off the bench to win them their first game this season - at home to Chesterfield in August.

That day, Grant scored seven minutes after coming on. On Tuesday, in Devon, it took just four minutes.

"When you've got someone of his quality on the bench that you can bring on, it's brilliant," added Nolan.

"It's frightening what the chairman has allowed me to do in assembling a squad over the last year."