By SIMON JONES
Published: 14:40 EST, 27 December 2025 | Updated: 14:40 EST, 27 December 2025
Leeds United and Chelsea are among the clubs to have checked on James McAtee's situation at Nottingham Forest.
The England U21 captain joined Forest in the summer from Manchester City in a deal worth up to £30million.
However, McAtee has yet to make the desired impact and suffered with a lack of continuity at Forest having worked under three different managers in his five months at the club.
Manager Sean Dyche and the club hierarchy think highly of the 23-year-old and maintain he has a bright future at the club but the fact he has still only made 10 appearances this season, with several from the substitutes' bench, has alerted interested clubs. Indeed, McAtee was an unused sub on Saturday as Forest lost to his former team City.
Leeds have a long-held interest in McAtee and have been looking for a 'number 10' style midfielder for January after missing out on Fulham's Harry Wilson in the last throes of the summer transfer window.
Chelsea's interest is surprising, but they are constantly assessing opportunities in the market and coach Enzo Maresca is an admirer of McAtee having worked with him at Manchester City when the Salford-born attacking midfielder was in the same team as Cole Palmer and Liam Delap.
Chelsea and Leeds are among the clubs monitoring Nottingham Forest's James McAtee
McAtee joined Nottingham Forest for £30m in the summer, but has made just 10 appearances
Chelsea have an interest in McAtee's teammate Elliot Anderson and Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton as they consider strengthening the centre of their midfield for the summer but did declare interest in Bournemouth's forward Antoine Semenyo before stepping back last week, again as an indicator they will explore market opportunities.
Bournemouth, wary of losing Semenyo to Manchester City next month with formal approaches expected imminently, hold an interest in taking McAtee on loan with Fulham and Sunderland also looking at that possibility.
And abroad, Bundesliga sides Stuttgart, Red Bull Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen and Eintracht Frankfurt have maintained a watching brief while Porto and PSV Eindhoven are also among McAtee's admirers.