Oliver Glasner needed only one press conference to diminish West Ham United’s hopes of taking James McAtee away from Nottingham Forest.
Frustration is growing among some Hammers fans as the wait for a first signing of the summer drags on. And that is meant as no disrespect to the two players who have put pen to paper at the London Stadium.
It’s just that Keiber Lamadrid – a loanee who featured once against Burton in the FA Cup – and former Chelmsford City teenager Jett Murphy do not exactly set the juices flowing alone.
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James McAtee, though, is the sort of profile that would have got hairs standing on end.
West Ham United appointed Nils Koppen as their Director of Player Recruitment a fortnight ago, and the Daily Mail reported soon after that Koppen had identified McAtee as a priority target.
Unfortunately for him, new Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner appears to have a lot more belief in McAtee than some of his City Ground predecessors.
Oliver Glasner wants to keep West Ham United target James McAtee
Glasner was speaking today during his official unveiling as Forest’s fourth permanent manager since the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo ten months ago.
“I see my job, together with my staff, to support every single player. And it doesn’t matter if he’s like Morgan Gibbs-White, the captain who scored 15 goals last year in the Premier League, or if it’s a young player who just arrived,” said the Austrian, making it clear that fringe players like McAtee will be handed a clean slate.
“This is what every player deserves; full support from every single one in the staff. This is what I promised them already, that they can count on us, that we will support them as good as we can to become the best version of themselves.
“If every single player develops and every single player works very hard for the team, then we can be very successful.
“When I see James McAtee, what quality he has, and then I think they didn’t play so often… So [my challenge is] now to support him, [making him believe] that he can help win games.”
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McAtee started just two Premier League matches last season, with a further 14 appearances off the bench.
The England Under-21 international did find minutes easier to come by in the Europa League but, without any kind of continental football to come this season, McAtee will be extremely glad to hear that Glasner has identified him early on as a player worth persisting with.
Another source of frustration, then, for West Ham fans ready to welcome McAtee with open arms.
Mateus Fernandes has not yet been replaced, while Tomas Soucek will miss the opening stanza of the Championship campaign following an injury he picked up during the World Cup. Nuno’s current midfield options, then, are limited to Freddie Potts, Soungoutou Magassa, James Ward-Prowse and Mohamadou Kante with their curtain-raiser away to Burnley only four weeks away.
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