{"id":344931,"date":"2025-08-14T22:08:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344931\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T22:08:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:08:13","slug":"nottingham-forest-strike-deal-for-england-under-21-hero-as-key-contract-clauses-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/344931\/","title":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest strike deal for England Under-21 hero as key contract clauses revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Nottingham Forest have agreed a deal to sign Manchester City&#8217;s James McAtee, talkSPORT understands.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/nuno-espirito-santo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nuno Espirito Santo<\/a> is going to add 22-year-old McAtee to his side for a fee that could rise up to \u00a330million.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"McAtee will depart Manchester City after rising through the club's youth ranks\" height=\"619\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/james-mcatee-manchester-city-premier-1015725504.jpg\" data-caption=\"McAtee will depart Manchester City after rising through the club's youth ranks\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/james-mcatee-manchester-city-premier-1015725504.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>McAtee will depart Manchester City after rising through the club&#8217;s youth ranksCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/sport\/football\/team\/113117\/nottingham-forest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forest<\/a>&#8216;s interest in the England Under-21 international came after their Europa League place was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), who\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/football\/3461834\/crystal-palace-europa-league-decision-uefa-cas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dismissed an appeal from Crystal Palace.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Talks have been ongoing since that decision and now there has been a breakthrough, with the move expected to be done this week.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s understood that McAtee&#8217;s contract at the City Ground will include a buy-back and sell-on clause for Man City.<\/p>\n<p>His boyhood club are making sure they can benefit should he fulfil his very high potential in the <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/football\/premier-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Forest have been long-term admirers of the midfielder, and see him as capable of playing as a no.8 or no.10, with Espirito Santo keen to strengthen in midfield this summer.<\/p>\n<p>McAtee was also said to be drawing interest from teams in Germany earlier in the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n<p>Eintracht Frankfurt\u00a0were reportedly among those keen on him, having followed him since at least January.<\/p>\n<p>The City academy graduate&#8217;s desire for a move away from the Etihad Stadium came after seeing his game time limited last season.<\/p>\n<p>After spending two years on loan at <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/sport\/football\/team\/113163\/sheffield-united\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sheffield United<\/a>, during which time he made 75 appearances and scored 14 goals altogether, the Englishman was made part of City&#8217;s first-team plans last season.<\/p>\n<p>He made 27 appearances in all competitions, but just three of them were starts, prompting him to seek a move elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"James McAtee won Sheffield United's Young Player of the Year award in 2023\" height=\"686\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/james-mcatee-sheffield-united-celebrates-865187958.jpg\" data-caption=\"James McAtee won Sheffield United's Young Player of the Year award in 2023\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/james-mcatee-sheffield-united-celebrates-865187958.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>James McAtee won Sheffield United&#8217;s Young Player of the Year award in 2023Credit: Getty<a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Nuno Espirito Santo will bolster his midfield options with McAtee arriving\" height=\"660\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/nuno-espirito-santo-manager-head-1014029822.jpg\" data-caption=\"Nuno Espirito Santo will bolster his midfield options with McAtee arriving\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/nuno-espirito-santo-manager-head-1014029822.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Nuno Espirito Santo will bolster his midfield options with McAtee arrivingCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>McAtee scored seven goals last term, including a hat-trick in an 8-0 <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/fa-cup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FA Cup<\/a> third round win over Salford City in January.<\/p>\n<p>With McAtee&#8217;s contract at City running until 2026, it seems the club have cashed in on him before then, with Forest an ideal location given their recent promotion to the Europa League.<\/p>\n<p>The East Midlands outfit\u00a0finished seventh in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/premier-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Premier League<\/a>\u00a0last term and initially qualified for the Conference League.<\/p>\n<p>However, FA Cup winners <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/sport\/football\/team\/113043\/crystal-palace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Crystal Palace<\/a> were then relegated from the Europa League to the Conference League following a <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/topic\/uefa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UEFA<\/a> ruling over a breach of multi-club ownership rules.<\/p>\n<p>And after the Eagles&#8217; appeal to overturn this ruling was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Forest were then awarded their place in Europe&#8217;s second-tier competition.<\/p>\n<p>McAtee&#8217;s arrival brings European experience to the team, who featured five times in the Champions League for City last term, scoring once.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"James McAtee played in six games at the Under-21 European Championship this summer, scoring once\" height=\"540\" width=\"960\" data-credit=\"Getty\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/crop-3333077.jpg\" data-caption=\"James McAtee played in six games at the Under-21 European Championship this summer, scoring once\"   loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/crop-3333077.jpg\" role=\"img\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>James McAtee played in six games at the Under-21 European Championship this summer, scoring onceCredit: Getty<\/p>\n<p>The playmaker also offers international pedigree, having played every game at the Under-21 European Championship this summer.<\/p>\n<p>McAtee was named as the England captain for the tournament and received the Player of the Match award after <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/who\/lee-carsley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lee Carsley<\/a>&#8216;s side defended their title with victory over Germany in the final.<\/p>\n<p>He also has Premier League experience under his belt beyond just last season.<\/p>\n<p>After helping Sheffield United to win promotion from the Championship in 2023, McAtee then made 30 top-flight appearances for the Blades in the following season, who were relegated straight back down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest have agreed a deal to sign Manchester City&#8217;s James McAtee, talkSPORT understands.\u00a0 Nuno Espirito Santo is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,1925,393,1811,94,4884,25459,886,178,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-344931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-crystal-palace","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-europa-league","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-james-mcatee","15":"tag-manchester-city","16":"tag-nottingham-forest","17":"tag-premier-league","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115029404178275285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}