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Tottenham given staggering £42.5m price tag for PL midfielder; Nottingham Forest could yet play spoilsport

Originally posted on To The Lane And Back
By Jainil Shah | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 4:03 PM ET

Manchester City seeking £42.5m for Tottenham Hotspur target James McAtee

After the whole Morgan Gibbs-White saga, which ended up with the former Wolves midfielder staying at City Ground, the North Londoners were left scrambling for alternatives, and that is when Man City academy graduate James McAtee came up in the rumour mill, with him being someone who was highly admired internally and with talks already held for a possible move this summer. But now as things get realistic, any ideas of Daniel Levy securing a cut-price deal to bring him to N17 have just been torched.

With transfer expert Ben Jacobs suggesting that Manchester City have knocked back a £25m offer from Nottingham Forest and made it clear that they are looking to get Cole Palmer money for his signatures. Which would take the transaction closer to £42.5m.

Nottingham Forest have had a £25m bid rejected for James McAtee.

Manchester City’s position remains McAtee can only leave for a figure closer to the £42.5m package received when Cole Palmer left for Chelsea.

Pep Guardiola prefers to keep McAtee, but an exit will be sanctioned… pic.twitter.com/Aztl6LlPE5
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 29, 2025

While Pep Guardiola is reportedly still looking to keep McAtee around at the Etihad Stadium, as most things work at City, it will change quickly if a check that is big enough is presented to them.

The McAtee dilemma at N17

Now this leaves the North Londoners weighing whether McAtee is talented enough to fork out such a hefty fee for his signatures. The England U21 international has shown flashes of his brilliance while he was on loan at Sheffield United and during the minutes that he got at City every now and then as a sub. But let’s face the fact: he is not Palmer. Not just yet. And Tottenham will definitely know that.

In McAtee the North Londoners have got a profile who is quite different from James Maddison, who is more dynamic and can rotate with the England international. And given that he is quite technically secure with a huge capacity to grow into a lethal threat, and while he ticks all the boxes, sure, but not at that price.

Elliott named as a possible alternative

Harvey Elliot has starred for England in the Euro Under-21 Championships. (Photo by Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images)

This while Gibbs-White u-turn has clearly left the whole recruitment blueprint a bit shaken at Hotspur Way. And now alongside McAtee, Tottenham are also aggressively looking at Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott.

So at the moment, Tottenham are now looking to find themselves someone who can start in the Premier League, but if Levy pays any marquee fees, they need to come with that hunting quality. This thing looked so straightforward when Levy took out that release clause of MGW, but now it is to be seen who the Lilywhites sign. Or will Nottingham once again beat us to the punch in the summer window?

This article first appeared on To The Lane And Back and was syndicated with permission.

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