Manchester City Set to Lose ‘Special’ Young Attacker Following Surprise Player Decision

 Nottingham Forest have been reasonably active in the summer transfer window, signing the likes of Dam Ndoye, Igor Jesus and Jair Cunha whilst operating at a substantial transfer profit. According to Fabrizio Romano, they are set to use some of this transfer budget to sign Manchester City’s James McAtee, who was labelled as “special” by Pep Guardiola, for a fee in excess of £20 million.

James McAtee Set for £20 Million Move to Nottingham Forest

What Will The Deal Look Like?

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are set to pay a fee of more than £20 million to secure the services of the 22-year-old, who was one of three players left out of the City squad that travelled to Palermo to contest the Anglo-Palermitan Trophy. This seems like a slightly low base fee, given that McAtee is valued at £17.3 million by Transfermarkt, but there is currently no knowledge of any clauses that the deal may entail. Hugo Viana may have inserted a large sell-on clause into the deal to ensure that City are fairly remunerated if the attacker ever gets a big-money move elsewhere.

Romano has also reported that McAtee has agreed personal terms with Forest and that, despite other competitive proposals, the England youth international “wants” to be at the City Ground this season. However, the deal has not quite yet been given the famous ‘here we go’ seal of approval by the Italian.

A recent decision from the attacker may have sealed his fate. To the surprise of onlookers, he opted to play for England’s U-21 squad at the Euros instead of travelling to the Club World Cup with his club side. Guardiola’s team crashed out of the competition earlier than expected and have since been spurred into making some changes to the squad.

Where May McAtee Fit in At Forest?

It will be interesting to see where McAtee fits in at Forest. Morgan Gibbs-White looks set to stay at the City Ground this summer after his proposed transfer to Tottenham Hotspur has seemingly fallen through. The City Football Academy graduate would have been a perfect replacement for Gibbs-White due to his creativity and relatively good goalscoring record, for someone who is a natural midfielder.

The departure of Anthony Elanga may mean that there is a spot on the wing up for grabs, but McAtee will have to fight it out with Ndoye, who is Forest’s big-money signing this summer. Espirito Santo occasionally used a two-striker formation last campaign, with Elanga partnering Chris Wood, but that role may be given to Callum Hudson-Odoi this season as he is more familiar with Forest’s system.