Manchester City and Nottingham Forest could do business this summer.
Nottingham Forest players expected Morgan Gibbs-White to move to Manchester City before Tottenham emerged as favourites to sign the England international.
However, the Citizens and the Reds could still be involved in a transfer together, as Nottingham Forest are keen to sign James McAtee – who is surplus to requirements under Pep Guardiola.
A story from Marca now states that Nottingham Forest are trying to sign another graduate of the City Football Academy in Pablo Maffeo.
Nottingham Forest want Pablo Maffeo
The Spanish news outlet believe Nottingham Forest are pushing to sign the 28-year-old.
Marca state that those at the City Ground have now raised their bid to €6.5m (£5.6m) – although Mallorca are keen to receive at least €8m (£7m) from any sale.
Maffeo – who made 30 appearances for the Manchester City U21 side before earning three senior appearances – is keen to join Nottingham Forest, and wants Mallorca to sanction his departure as soon as possible.
McAtee and the Spaniard never played a game together at Manchester City, but must have crossed paths around the Etihad Campus.
Maffeo moved to the City Football Academy from Espanyol in 2013, the same year McAtee joined Manchester City at the age of 11.
Manchester City have already utilised their Pablo Maffeo sell-on clause
When selling Maffeo to VfB Stuttgart for £8.8m back in May 2018, Manchester City inserted a 25% sell-on clause, according to the Daily Mail.
The Bundesliga side then sold the right-back to Mallorca in June 2022 for a small sum of just €3.5m (£3m).
Therefore, Manchester City earned £750,000 from that move, and will not stand to receive any further cash should Maffeo complete a move to Nottingham Forest this summer.
It would, however, represent another sign of how strong the City Football Academy really is if Maffeo joins the UEFA Europa League outfit with a return to the Premier League – where the likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, Romeo Lavia and Phil Foden are already starring.
