West Ham are reportedly keen to sign James McAtee from Manchester City, amid interest in their own midfield star Lucas Paqueta, including from City themselves.
McAtee has yet to make a full breakthrough with the Sky Blues yet. He has played sparingly before and since loan spells with Sheffield United, where he spent 2022/23 in the Championship, and 2023/24 in the Premier League.
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McAtee’s first real contribution for Manchester City came only this season, when he scored in a 4-0 Champions League win over Slovan Bratislava.
McAtee will be the Hammers’ top target this winter, amid fears of losing attacking midfielder Paqueta. The Brazilian is highly sought after.
It is believed that if they are to go after Paqueta, it will be a direct deal, rather than a trade-off for McAtee. As such, the report suggests that the Hammers have set aside £20 million for “The Salford Silva”, a name given due to his resemblance to former City star David Silva.
Paqueta is wanted by several clubs
It is believed that Paqueta is wanted by Botafogo, in his native Brazil. There is also still interest from City, who have been looking for a transfer before, most recently this summer. TEAMalk also revealed in the summer that Al-Nassr had contacted Paqueta in the hope of finalizing a deal, as did Flamengo.
West Ham want to keep him at the club and will not signal anything by suggesting a swap deal.
It was thought that West Ham were keen to keep him at the club, but it is now wary that he could move on.
The Hammers are also considering signing a former Chelsea star, with Christian Pulisic, currently at AC Milan.
Meanwhile, Spurs and West Ham could be battling it out for another player, with Greek striker Stefanos Tzimas said to be of interest to both. It is believed that Nuremberg will use his option to buy him after the current loan period, and sell to the Premier League for profit.
Although they have taken different routes to this point, McAtee can follow the same path as former teammate Cole Palmer at City Academy.
Both comfortable on the ball and able to play in a variety of positions – the main attacking midfield – have both shown an ability to control games from a young age, with the City stamp evident in their game.
McAtee showed it with Sheffield United, scoring and assisting 22 goals in total in 75 games. If he moves on to another Premier League team, after being given little chance at City – six games this season – he can play like Palmer immediately.
In his final season with the Citizens, the now-Chelsea man made 25 appearances, most of them from the bench, and therefore had little opportunity to impress.
In his first season with Chelsea, Palmer put in 25 goals and 15 assists, and immediately exploded into life, as it seems McAtee could too.
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