Earlier in the summer 2025 transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur were stonewalled by Nottingham Forest. They had thought they were bringing in star attacking midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White for 60 million pounds after activating his release clause, but Forest kicked, screamed, and threatened legal action.
In the end, Gibbs-White, despite apparently wanting the move to Tottenham, decided to re-sign with Nottingham Forest, taking him off the table for Spurs and leaving the club back to square one. And with James Maddison now out with a torn ACL, Tottenham have a gaping hole for a playmaker that Gibbs-White would have filled perfectly under new manager Thomas Frank.
Tottenham are running out of playmaking options. Xavi Simons, Eberechi Eze, Alejandro Garnacho, and other top players seem to be closer to London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea. Now, Spurs are after young talents like Nico Paz, but most teams don't want to part ways with ascending talents like that.
While Tottenham pursue star Manchester City winger Savinho hard, they've also been linked closely with his teammate James McAtee as an attacking midfield option throughout the summer transfer window. But as with other targets they've missed out on like City's Rayan Cherki and Simons, it looks like they are too late to the punch again.
Tottenham missed out on two talented 10s
According to a report from Fabrizio Romano, a verbal agreement between McAtee and Nottingham Forest, of all teams, is "almost done". Things are getting so advanced for Forest that they are "optimistic" they will seal his transfer within 48 hours, with McAtee already giving Forest the green light.
At this point, Tottenham already had a feeling that McAtee was a lost cause, though he was a cause they didn't really pursue hard at all. The worst part of losing out on McAtee is if he becomes a star for Forest and he and Gibbs-White form a formidable partnership, because if Tottenham had shown more urgency, they could have ended up with both players.
As Tottenham reel from the Maddison injury and watch as Dejan Kulusevski is still a month away from returning, Spurs supporters will wonder why the club didn't push harder against Forest with either the Gibbs-White transfer fallout or McAtee, whom they had multiple opportunities to acquire.
It seems like it's only a matter of time before McAtee to Forest is official, and the worst part is that he'll go for half the price of the other attacking midfield options Tottenham have been linked to like Eze and Simons. Not that those players are bad, but if the argument was cost alone, well, Daniel Levy has failed completely in that respect, too.