Nottingham Forest will be going in search of marquee additions to the squad in the summer but perhaps the biggest worry is keeping their top stars.
Morgan Gibbs-White is being linked with Manchester City, whilst Murillo, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi will all be catching admiring glances from elsewhere.
That really is the nature of the beast, though, with clubs bound to circle around players from a club which has performed as well as Forest has during the 2024/25 campaign.
The Reds are on the quest for Champions League football next season and with five games remaining, it’s completely in the hands of Nuno Espirito Santo to secure the unthinkable achievement.
Forest have been linked with Bryan Mbeumo and it’s clear that top quality marquee signings will very much be the order of the day if the elite club competition in European football is on the agenda.
Nottingham Forest want James McAtee
According to The Telegraph, the Reds have identified the Manchester City star as the ideal replacement should Gibbs-White go to the Etihad Stadium in the summer.
Ideally, Forest will keep hold of their number 10 and continue to build around him, but that might not be possible with Gibbs-White potentially keen to depart in the summer.
McAtee feels like an ideal replacement and could be available this summer for £35 million, with Bayer Leverkusen also monitoring the situation.
The 22-year-old is seeking out more frequent first-team football and should Gibbs-White go to City, his prospects of a run of games look bleaker.
What Pep Guardiola said about James McAtee
Strangely, Guardiola is a huge fan of McAtee and it’s perhaps strange that he appears willing to sanction a departure when the transfer window opens.
The youngster does want to play, but City have dropped the ball previously with burgeoning talent, most notably with Cole Palmer who has excelled at Chelsea since leaving.
McAtee has played lots of football in the cup competitions this season, and after an emphatic 8-0 win over Salford, he called the player ‘fantastic’ and ‘really important’.
The talented academy graduate is going to be the subject of vast interest from a number of clubs and in terms of the Forest recruitment profile, he ticks a lot of boxes.
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