Tottenham Hotspur will head back to the drawing board in their attempt to sign an attacking midfielder after target Morgan Gibbs-White signed a new deal at Nottingham Forest – and reports have claimed that they will look to sign James McAtee or Xavi Simons, after opening talks to increase the strength of their creative force for new boss Thomas Frank.
Report: Tottenham ‘Open Talks’ to Sign McAtee and Simons
Tottenham have been let down in their Morgan Gibbs-White bid
Gibbs-White initially told Forest that he wanted to join Tottenham, but the Reds’ owner Evangelos Marinakis has spent the past fortnight tempting Gibbs-White to stay at the City Ground, which he has done. Tottenham are now ready to move on quickly, and director Johan Lange has held talks with other options McAtee and Simons, with Spurs keen to bolster their attacking midfield ranks.
| James McAtee’s Premier League statistics – Manchester City squad ranking |
| Stats |
Output |
Squad rank |
| Appearances |
15 |
=17th |
| Goals |
3 |
=8th |
| Key Passes Per Game |
0.2 |
=20th |
| Shots Per Game |
0.8 |
=12th |
| Match rating |
6.29 |
24th |
They have held talks with other unnamed players as well, but the duo are options to fit into Thomas Frank’s plans after missing out on the England under-21 star.
McAtee has made 18 Premier League appearances for City in his short career, as well as a further 16 in other competitions – though his 75 outings for Sheffield United have garnered 14 goals and a promotion with the Blades, before finding himself on the cusp of Pep Guardiola’s starting XI last season.
However, the arrivals of Omar Marmoush, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki over the past six months have likely pushed him down the pecking order at the Etihad Stadium and Tottenham could offer him first-team minutes.
Simons, meanwhile, has been heavily linked with Chelsea, but an array of attacking talent could see him miss out on consistent first-team minutes at Stamford Bridge next season, with various competitions to compete in. The RB Leipzig ‘superstar’ has been on fire since his move to the Bundesliga outfit, and he is highly thought of for both club and country, having already made 28 caps for the Netherlands national team.
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