Nottingham Forest have signed James McAtee from Manchester City for a fee rising to £30m.
The England Under-21 captain is set to spark a spell of spending from Forest, who are also expected to confirm the club-record signing of Omari Hutchinson from Ipswich.
McAtee has signed a five-year deal at the City Ground after Forest beat off competition from a host of other clubs who were interested in the 22-year-old.
He said: “I feel ready for a new challenge and the club had a great season last year so I want to help build on that and show what I can do.
“I’m so happy to be here and really looking forward to getting started with my new teammates and I know the ambition of everyone associated with the club which is something I want to be a part of.”
Forest’s Chief Football Officer Ross Wilson added: “We’re absolutely delighted to welcome James to Nottingham Forest. He’s a player we’ve admired for a long time, and our conversations with Manchester City, James, his family and his representatives over the past month have been incredibly constructive.
“After captaining England to the Under-21 European Championship title, James took some time to reflect on his next step – and we’re thrilled he’s chosen Forest. We are proud to now have three extremely exciting young talents from the group that lifted the Under-21 trophy with Elliot [Anderson], Omari and now James.
“There was strong interest in James, but he showed a real determination to join us. Our players have been excited about the possibility of him arriving, and now we can officially welcome him into the group.”
McAtee scored seven goals for City last season but only started three Premier League games for the club and has left in search of more regular first-team football.
City manager Pep Guardiola had a host of other options for the attacking midfield positions, including new captain Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Oscar Bobb, Omar Marmoush, Claudio Echeverri and new signings Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders.
