Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly looking to take advantage of a failed Nottingham Forest bid for an impressive playmaking talent, in what could be viewed by some as somewhat of a revenge mission following the embarrassing Morgan Gibbs-White episode.
Much has been written about Spurs missing out on Gibbs-White, with the latest suggestion that they never actually triggered all the clauses in the midfielder’s exit clause before he then ended up signing a record-breaking new contract at The City Ground.
The failed transfer left Tottenham with egg on their face and Forest chairman Evangelos Marinakis claiming a big victory for his side, while it also meant Thomas Frank would have to cast his net wider to bring in a new creative midfielder.
In terms of those options, Manchester United are now looking to keep hold of Kobbie Mainoo after his impressive pre-season performances so far, while a report on Tuesday evening claimed that Spurs are also after Leicester star Bilal El Khannouss.
In a more speculative report, Frank is also said to be looking to raid West Ham again for a cut-price star, but TBR Football stated over the weekend that a move for Manchester City’s James McAtee could be more likely.
Tottenham’s interest has now intensified, though, after Fabrizio Romano revealed that City have actually rejected a £25m (€29m / $33m) offer from Forest for the 22-year-old.
They deem that figure not high enough, despite the fact that McAtee only has a year remaining on his existing contract at The Etihad.
Indeed, City transfer chiefs are believed to be demanding in excess of that figure for a player Guardiola has great admiration for but is struggling to guarantee regular minutes.
And now, according to TheSpursWeb, Tottenham could jump in ahead of Forest and try and conclude a deal for McAtee in a move to bolster Frank’s attacking options ahead of the club’s return to the Champions League stage.
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Guardiola talks up McAtee ‘quality’
City are planning to sell McAtee in order to balance out their squad after making a number of signings already this summer, particularly in midfield.
However, that does not mean Guardiola does not rate the player, as is evidenced by his comments towards the end of a difficult season for City.
Indeed, Guardiola took it on himself as to why McAtee has not been able to fully showcase the qualities he has in his locker.
Speaking about McAtee back in April, the Spaniard said: “We haven’t seen it [from James] this season because I didn’t allow him to play minutes.
“I cannot ask anything from these types of players when they do not play a lot of minutes. They could do better? No. In the Spurs game, maybe the first games he played in the Carabao Cup he played really good.
“Macca has this quality, he could’ve scored four goals [against Palace]. He has the ability to create chances, he is there.
“Macca lives close to the box, quite similar to Phil and they are there. They have a sense [of goal], it’s difficult to train in the moment the ball is coming and after he didn’t score but it’s fine. As much minutes he plays he will score.”
While landing a player of McAtee’s talent for a relatively low fee would be a potentially great signing for Tottenham, questions will also be asked about how much he would actually play in north London too.
Spurs already have James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski to occupy the No.10 role and have also been working with Lucas Bergvall in that role during their pre-season trip to Asia.
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