Whether James McAtee is likely to sign in time for Nottingham Forest to face Brentford

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Nottingham Forest have beaten their rivals to reach an agreement to sign James McAtee, with the timeline of his City Ground arrival now mapped out.

Nuno Espírito Santo will have an array of attacking talent at his disposal when the Manchester City man comes through the door, with McAtee and Morgan Gibbs-White playing together surely providing enough creativity.

Evangelos Marinakis will be particularly pleased as Forest reached an agreement with McAtee ahead of a number of top German sides, including Borussia Dortmund, showing the pull that the Reds’ ambition has.

Getting him through the door in time for Forest’s Premier League opener against Brentford would be perfect for Espírito Santo, with the likely timeline revealed by Fabrizio Romano.

Fabrizio Romano on likely James McAtee transfer timeline

After Forest had a bid rejected for McAtee at the end of July, it looked possible that City’s demands for the England under-21 international would prove too costly for the Reds, but persistence clearly paid off.

All eyes now turn to Sunday’s curtain-raiser against Brentford and whether or not McAtee could feature. According to Romano, Forest are confident that he will.

Late on Monday evening, Romano posted that Forest were “optimistic” to get McAtee through the door during the week, giving plenty of time to hopefully get the 22-year-old out training with his new teammates.

If Romano’s estimates are wrong and the deal stalls, the Premier League have a hard deadline as to when new signings can be registered to feature on the weekend.

When new signings have to be registered to feature in the Premier League

Forest’s new winger Dan Ndoye will be in line for his competitive debut on Sunday at the City Ground, but having McAtee available too would be even more exciting for Reds fans.

However, the Premier League states that new signings must be registered by 12 pm on the last working day before the game to be allowed to feature.

For Forest, this would be Friday the 15th of August so there’s time to get everything sorted, but any delay to the deal could see the City Ground faithful miss out on seeing the Englishman in action.