Nottingham Forest are targeting a move for Manchester City midfielder James McAtee after losing two key players inside a week.
With both Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White set to complete moves to Newcastle and Tottenham respectively, Forest know they need to strengthen in attacking areas and Mail Sport understands McAtee is high on their list.
They are weighing up an an initial bid of about £25million plus add-ons, though it is understood City value their homegrown player closer to £40m – the fee they received from Chelsea for Cole Palmer two years ago.
The 22-year-old played 27 times for City last season, scoring seven goals in all competitions, and was part of England Under-21s’ successful defence of their European Championship title this summer.
The previous season, he was on loan at Sheffield United as they were relegated from the top flight.
Newcastle are to pay about £55m for Elanga while Spurs activated a £60m clause in Gibbs-White’s contract to bring him to north London, pending a medical.

Nottingham Forest are targeting a move for Manchester City star James McAtee

The forward captained England’s U21s to a second successive European Championship crown

Nottingham Forest are set to lose both Morgan Gibbs-White (left) and Anthony Elanga (right)
The pair were at the heart of Forest’s attacking plans last year and the club have identified possible replacements, with Brentford’s Yoane Wissa – a longer-term target – and PSV Eindhoven winger Johan Bakayoko also on their radar.
Brentford value Wissa at about £50m while Bakayoko has interest from Bayer Leverkusen.
Forest also moved for Juventus duo Timothy Weah and Samuel Mbangula earlier in the window, and showed an interest in Malick Fofana of Lyon.
Forest have been so far unable to bring any of those deals over the line.