This time last year, James McAtee should have been on the crest of a wave.
Barely two weeks after captaining England’s under-21s to success in the European Championships, he was completing the final details of a £30million move to Nottingham Forest.
McAtee had come through in the same generation of talent as Phil Foden and Cole Palmer at the Etihad Campus. And, when they persuaded him to sign on the dotted line, there were people at Forest who believed he arrived armed with similar potential.
A sublime left foot and an almost swaggering, confident presence on the ball, the 23-year-old had always looked the part, even from the moment he first caught the eye of Pep Guardiola when he had only just become a teenager.
A move to the City Ground was meant to give him the platform to demonstrate those talents more regularly. Under all four head coaches who came and went at Forest last season, the same thing was always true — McAtee would constantly be one of the most impressive figures on the training ground. But it was rarely reflected on the pitch.
Nuno Espirito Santo, Ange Postecoglou, Sean Dyche and Vitor Pereira all struggled to fit him into the team.
McAtee was seen as a player in a similar mould to Palmer or Foden, a young man who was at his best in the final third, somebody with the quality to, one day, make the step up to the senior international side, potentially. He was man of the match in the 3-2 win over Germany that secured victory for an England under-21 side that also included Elliot Anderson.
Yet, with Morgan Gibbs-White often Forest’s most influential player in the number 10 role taking centre stage, McAtee was limited to a bit part last season. He started only two Premier League games, while coming off the bench 12 times.
But the latest Forest head coach believes McAtee could be a potential solution to a different problem — as somebody who, while a different player, could help to fill the void left by Anderson.
James McAtee vies with Eduardo Quaresma of Sporting CP for the ball possession during a pre-season friendly (Carlos Rodrigues/Getty Images)
Forest have not given up their efforts to sign a more direct replacement for the man who joined Manchester City for £116m in July. Top of their list is City’s Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders. Forest hold a serious interest in the 28-year-old, who cost £46.5million in June 2025.
Reijnders is a dynamic, technical box-to-box midfielder who is comfortable bridging the gap between defensive build-up into the attacking phase. He can carry the ball in tight areas and contribute goals and assists.
Forest are also still keen on Lucas Bergvall, the Swedish international, although Tottenham’s valuation of the midfielder could be a stumbling block, with the London club having already rejected one bid.
But, since Oliver Glasner’s appointment, the Austrian has been working with McAtee — who had already spent the summer working in building his physique — on operating in a deeper role.
After his second-half display in the 2-1 friendly win over Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, it seems to be paying off.
“He is a player who can dictate the rhythm, who can decide when we go quickly forward or when we must stay in possession. He understands the game; he can read the game very well,” said Glasner in an interview with journalists after the game. “He has honestly surprised me since I arrived, with his very high work rate and physicality.
“There was one sliding tackle in front of the dugout that he made — I have seen this in training as well, so it was not just to impress me — he has that quality and it is great that he shows it. They (the midfield duo) are allowed to attack the box and he has that skill, to be a quarterback, to dictate the tempo.”
McAtee’s corner deliveries were consistently dangerous — Ryan Yates came close to scoring with a header from one. McAtee also created a chance for himself, winning possession in midfield before driving forward and seeing a shot deflected wide. A whipped, curling delivery from the right side was a whisker too strong for Callum Hudson-Odoi, but almost bent directly in at the far post.
Every time he got on the ball — and he demanded it constantly — McAtee seemed to be infused with confidence.
Xaver Schlager also impressed against Bayer Leverkusen at the City Ground (David Rogers/Getty Images)
He was not the only one to impress. Nico Dominguez was full of vim as his midfield partner in a game Forest played different teams in each half. The Argentine repeatedly won possession with his pressing and positional sense.
McAtee was the best Forest player after the break, but Xaver Schlager had stood out before it. The Austrian international was neat and tidy in possession and, like McAtee, seemed to know when to up the tempo.
Ibrahim Sangare continues to look like the dominant figure Forest hoped he would be when they invested £30million to sign him from PSV in 2023. The Ivory Coast international and Schlager looked like a good partnership, with both men efficient at breaking up opposition play. One tackle from Schlager, as he stretched out a boot while on the slide, was a thing of beauty.
“We know we have good options in midfield when we play in this (3-4-2-1) system,” added Glasner.
“Because they are more like number eights, in the way we play. We like to have one left-footed player and one right, so that we can open up the game. We have the captain as well, Ryan Yates, who is doing very well in the back three. We have plenty of options, which is good, because we need them.”
Forest still very much hope to add another midfielder before the window closes. But, while that quest continues, Glasner already has a positive problem to solve in the centre of the pitch and, just maybe, McAtee could be an unexpected solution.
