‘Man City paying ahead by sanctioning James McAtee sale to Forest’
Nottingham Forest appear to be pushing ahead with the signing of James McAtee, but there may be an ulterior motive to the sale for Manchester City.
McAtee is a Manchester City academy product and registered an impressive seven goals in 27 appearances across all competitions last season, despite limited starts — with only 342 minutes of Premier League action.
The midfielder turns 23 soon and has reached the stage in his career where he can become a regular starter.
Nottingham Forest look set to offer McAtee that opportunity, but there may be more to this deal than meets the eye for City as well.
Forest closing in on McAtee
Football Insider transfer correspondent Pete O’Rourke has revealed that £35million will be enough for Man City to sanction the departure of McAtee this summer.
The Tricky Trees have already seen a £25m bid rejected for McAtee, with City looking to make a little more out of their homegrown star, who will represent pure profit on the club’s PSR balance sheet.
Alongside Forest, the likes of West Ham and Everton have been linked with McAtee, who has also attracted interest from German sides Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.
However, City may be more motivated to sell to Forest.
Man City ‘paying ahead’ with McAtee sale
City failed in their bid to bring Forest star man Morgan Gibbs-White on board this summer, with the England international instead signing a new contract at the City Ground.
Gibbs-White will lead Forest into the Europa League this summer but given his upward career trajectory, he will by no means have taken his eye off the ultimate Champions League prize.
Often, players sign new contracts to help their club earn a bigger fee for a transfer. Forest have helped jumpstart Gibbs-White’s career in the last couple of years, so it would be no surprise if this was the motivation here.
| 2024/25 Premier League stats | Morgan Gibbs-White | James McAtee |
| Appearances | 34 | 15 |
| Goals | 7 | 3 |
| Assists | 8 | 0 |
| Minutes | 2,822 | 342 |
And while things went sour regarding a possible move to Spurs, with Forest even taking legal action, Evangelos Marinakis appears to have a better relationship with City — even preferring a move there for Gibbs-White over Spurs before that new contract was signed.
Allowing Forest to sign McAtee — who could be an eventual Gibbs-White replacement — on favourable terms might well be an act of ‘paying ahead’ for Man City, giving them better grace in possible negotiations for Gibbs-White next summer.