Tottenham accelerate James McAtee plans with Man City after James Maddison’s ACL injury

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TBR Football understands that Tottenham Hotspur have stepped up their interest in signing Manchester City midfielder James McAtee.

McAtee has been a Tottenham target since January, as TBR Football revealed, and now, Spurs have started to ramp up their pursuit this week.

James Maddison has suffered an ACL injury and is expected to miss a large part of the new campaign.

TBR Football revealed earlier this month that Tottenham were keen to sign another attacking midfielder, and the injury to their vice-captain has only accelerated these plans.

McAtee has now emerged as one of the leading candidates to replace the 28-year-old, and work is underway to understand the conditions for the deal.

Tottenham hold fresh James McAtee talks with Man City

Tottenham Hotspur have held fresh talks with Manchester City over the possibility of signing James McAtee, sources have told TBR Football chief correspondent Graeme Bailey.

City value McAtee at around £40m and have already rejected a bid from Nottingham Forest for the England U-21 captain.

The 22-year-old enjoyed a great summer with the young Three Lions as he helped guide them to their second European Championship title in two years.

Bailey told TBR Football: “Tottenham have always recognised James McAtee’s talent, they tried to sign him in January, and now they are looking closely at him.”

Man City are open to selling the midfielder this summer after he struggled for minutes again last season under Pep Guardiola.

Tottenham failed to sign Morgan Gibbs-White last month after the midfielder committed to a new contract with Forest.

Jack Grealish is another player Tottenham asked about during talks with Guardiola’s team. Although Everton are leading the race to sign Grealish, at this moment in time.

It’s clear that Spurs must now react with Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski sidelined for long periods of time, and McAtee has emerged as a very strong option.

Tottenham must replace Maddison, Kulusevski and Son goal contributions

Losing the trio of Maddison, Kulusevski and Son Heung-min means that Spurs have lost a total of 33 goals and 34 assists from last season’s squad.

That makes it a very tricky task for Frank to find alternatives in his squad who are going to help make up that number of lost goal contributions.

The arrival of Kudus will certainly help, but further additions are required in the final 25 days of the summer transfer window.

Signing a new creative midfielder will be key, as right now, they have lost their top three assisters from last term.