Morgan Gibbs-White could join Tottenham Hotspur this summer, but a number of Nottingham Forest players privately expected him to move somewhere else.
Tottenham paid Morgan Gibbs-White’s £60m release clause last week, but issues over a potential deal have now emerged.
Gibbs-White told Evangelos Marinakis he wants to join Spurs, but Nottingham Forest have taken a move off the table until they find out how the Lilywhites were made aware of his release clause.
He has since returned to training this week and doesn’t want to leave Forest on bad terms.
Now, an insight into how Nuno Espirito Santo’s players feel about the Englishman securing an exit has been shared.
Morgan Gibbs-White was expected to join another Premier League club before Tottenham
Forest have offered Gibbs-White a new contract, but the player has shown little interest in negotiating.
Transfer interest in the midfielder has been expected for some time, including from some players at the club.
At the end of the 2024/25 season, according to the Daily Mail, there was a belief among many in the squad that Gibbs-White would be moving to Manchester City this summer.
There was hope that a potential move to the Etihad would be concluded quickly so it would not become a distraction – that, of course, did not happen.
Man City instead moved for other targets, snapping up Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders, with there understood to have been genuine surprise the Sky Blues did not end up firming up their interest in the Tottenham target or Anthony Elanga, who has since joined Newcastle United.
Speaking of Elanga, his departure from the City Ground is thought to have caused some concern within the Forest squad.
Nottingham Forest players concerned amid Anthony Elanga exit
Newcastle completed the signing of Elanga last week, paying a reported fee of around £55m for the winger.
Rio Ferdinand praised the transfer as ‘a great bit of business’, in part due to the sell-on clause Manchester United had on the player.
But his move to Newcastle is understood to have played a role in concerns Forest stars have about next season.
There is a worry that Forest will struggle to replicate their playing style from 2024/25 in the forthcoming campaign, in part due to losing Elanga’s pace out wide, the report from the Mail added.