During the 2024/25 campaign, McAtee made 17 appearances for the first team, but only five of those were as a starter. He played a total of 522 minutes, which is less than six full games. This lack of playing time likely contributed to his poor shooting accuracy of 30.8% and his 23.1% shot conversion rate, which was the best in the entire Man City squad last season.
According to Guardiola, McAtee's struggles were directly due to not being played enough. In April, Guardiola stated, "We haven't seen enough (from James) this season because I didn’t allow him to play minutes. I cannot ask anything from these types of players when they do not play a lot of minutes."
Despite this, Guardiola expressed his interest in keeping McAtee, praising his skills and work ethic. With Pep unlikely to stand in McAtee's way, the young player may consider moving to another club to gain more playing time.
West Ham United is one potential destination for McAtee. After selling Mohammed Kudus earlier this summer, Graham Potter's team is looking for a creative presence who can also score goals. Potter has been under pressure since taking over as head coach, with a win percentage of only 27.8% in 18 games.
The Hammers need renewed impetus, and a move for McAtee could be beneficial. He has the ability to break lines, find space, and play in others, which would be a valuable addition to the team. His 86.5% pass accuracy would make him one of the team's best passers, and he could slot in as either an eight or a 10, significantly adding to their attacking intent.
Signing El Hadji Malick Diouf is a positive step, but West Ham needs to strengthen their roster further. Man City is demanding £35m for McAtee's services, which is a significant amount. However, if Potter wants to see what McAtee can bring to his team, he should review the tapes from the summer's U21 European Championship, where McAtee flourished with more playing time.
McAtee can also add goals and assists to the team's statistics, and he would likely jump at the chance to play for West Ham, a club that is respected for playing football in "the right way."
