As the Hammers set to ramp up their transfer business for the upcoming weeks, the club have turned to a former target, in hopes of bolstering their midfield for the upcoming campaign.
The target in question here is Nottingham Forest’s midfielder James McAtee. The Forest man moved to Nottingham last season in the hope of receiving starting game time as well as having European experience. However, his time at Forest has been dull and over time he has fallen out of favour and now an exit is on the cards.
West Ham were formally interested in him, but Nottingham Forest ultimately paid the fee Manchester City were asking for and we missed out. However, Nottingham Forest are now willing to either sell the player or allow him to go out on loan.
West Ham could venture for this move and offer either a loan with an option to buy, or an obligation if we were to be promoted.
Nottingham Forest bought the Manchester City academy project in a deal worth up to £30m, but only £22m was paid as the add-ons weren’t fulfilled.
The only complication to this deal is that Manchester City do in-fact have a buy-back clause which they could potentially trigger, in the event a move elsewhere happens.
The other issue is whether Nuno decides to play him as a 10 or not. West Ham are known under Nuno’s tenure to not play with a direct attacking midfielder and tend to opt for a double pivot. Whilst Nuno could possibly have McAtee as an option, the Englishman won’t want to be second fiddle once again.
Nuno and the newest backroom addition, Nils Koppen, will further discuss targets and who to march on with for the Championship campaign
