Chelsea Consider Signing Out of Favour No. 10—Report

The attacking midfielder moved for £30 million in the summer but has barely played.

James McAtee’s barely playing at Nottingham Forest. / Visionhaus/Getty Images

Chelsea have shown interest in signing Nottingham Forest attacking midfielder James McAtee, according to reports.

McAtee was a summer arrival at the City Ground in a deal worth up to £30 million ($40.6 million) having previously attracted interest from a number of Premier League clubs. But the 23-year-old has seen just 149 minutes of top-flight action this season, starting just once in the 1–0 defeat to Sunderland in September.

His absence from Forest’s side, which continued in Saturday’s narrow defeat to former club Manchester City, has led to renewed speculation over his future, and Mail Sport report that Chelsea are one of five clubs whose interest has been piqued.

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Under pressure Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca is said to be a keen admirer of McAtee—the two worked together at City when the Italian was a member of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff—and the Blues continue to monitor the transfer market for “opportunities” despite being well stocked with No. 10s.

Leeds United, Fulham and Sunderland are named as other admirers of McAtee, as are Bournemouth, who may consider a loan move as they prepare to lose talismanic forward Antoine Semenyo—most likely to Manchester City in a transfer worth £65 million.

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McAtee Unable to Impress Three Forest Managers

Sean Dyche hasn’t utilised McAtee much. / Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar/Getty Images

McAtee may only have been a Forest player for little over four months, yet he’s already working under his third manager.

Nuno Espírito Santo was in charge when City agreed to sell McAtee in January but he left the club in early September after a spectacular falling out with owner Evangelos Marinakis and former Arsenal midfield Edu Gaspar, who was appointed as Global Head of Football over the summer.

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou replaced Nuno but he was given just eight matches in charge before he was given the boot by Marinakis, leading to the eventual appointment of current manager Sean Dyche.

It hasn’t made a difference whose been in charge, however, when it comes to McAtee’s playing time. He’s come off the bench in just two of Dyche’s seven Premier League matches in charge, making short cameos against Brighton and Fulham that have cumulatively lasted just 22 minutes.

With rotation in mind for the Europa League, McAtee has at least seen more game time on the continent. But he didn’t complete the full 90 minutes against Sturm Graz, Malmö or Utrecht, and was hooked at half time against the latter as Dyche opted to bring on Elliot Anderson and Ibrahim Sangaré in a bid to break the deadlock.

Nottingham Forest Manager	McAtee Appearances	McAtee Minutes
Nuno Espírito Santo	2	219
Ange Postecoglou	3	162
Sean Dyche	5	52

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