Spurs won’t be signing Morgan Gibbs-White - but they may have the perfect Plan B in place already.
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A little under two weeks ago, Tottenham Hotspur thought they were getting hold of Morgan Gibbs-White, and the player himself thought he was leaving Nottingham Forest for £60m. A little legal wrangling later, and neither has proven to be the case.
On Sunday, Forest announced that Gibbs-White has signed a new three-year contract to keep him at the City Ground having succeeded in putting his move to Spurs on ice by complaining to the Premier League about the nature of Spurs’ approach. With Forest making it plain that they would do everything to block his move to North London and no other suitors in sight, however, he is going nowhere.
Quite whether Gibbs-White is entirely happy about the situation is unclear, and a video of him thanking Evangelos Marinakis for ‘believing in him’ while the Forest owner stood glowering over him had the subtle air of a hostage situation about it, but it’s certain that Spurs aren’t going to be thrilled. They’re heading back to the drawing board – but they may have a pretty Spurs Hotspur may already have the ideal Morgan Gibbs-White alternative in mind
Harvey Elliott could be perfect Morgan Gibbs-White alternative for Spurs
On Sunday, a story originating with Spurs reporter Paul O’Keefe suggested that Spurs have made enquiries regarding Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, with the hero of England’s charge to the European Under-21 Championship title in Slovakia facing an uncertain future at Anfield.
Never really able to force his way into Arne Slot’s starting side, Elliott appears to have accepted the likelihood of a move away and is reportedly available for a fee in the range of £40-50m, with several teams alleged to be monitoring his situation.
Elliott would not, of course, be a like for like replacement for Gibbs-White, who is perhaps most at home playing as a number ten or operating on the left wing, but Elliott’s performances for the Young Lions in June provided a timely reminder that he’s far more than just the economical midfielder which Jürgen Klopp used him as.
Elliott first made his name as a winger, especially during an explosive loan spell at Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, and is equally capable of driving at defenders down the right flank as he is playing in a dynamic central role.
If Thomas Frank is looking for someone to supplement (or supplant) James Maddison in the central attacking midfield role, then Elliott may well do a fine job but would certainly free Dejan Kulusevski up to play that role by providing competition down the right – and he would be another option for the deeper midfielder pairing, a position that Spurs have put off an overhaul of for a little too long.
While naturally left-footed, few would bet against Elliott offering another option down the left flank as well should Son Heung-Min depart, either, but the real reason to sign Elliott is not simply that he’s a highly flexible player who can fill multiple roles for Spurs as they compete on four fronts next season, but that he’s an excellent technician, a genuine threat in the final third and – crucially – has plenty of room to improve even further.
Why Harvey Elliott would improve Spurs immediately
Over the course of the past season, Elliott was directly involved in creating 4.63 shooting chances every 90 minutes he played in all competitions – and the season before, that was 4.72. Of the current Spurs squad, only Son and Kulusevski have created more opportunities.
Elliott would immediately become one of Spurs’ greatest creative threats, and he may well exceed the wingers ahead of him were he played in a more advanced role. Even from deeper areas, he helped to generated more than twice as many scoring chances per game than any of Spurs’ central midfielders.
His accurate long-range passing would add a string to Spurs’ attacking bow that’s presently somewhat lacking. The driving force behind the volume of chances that Elliott creates is the volume of precise balls either into the box or down the channels that he produces – only James Maddison comes close on that score in the current Spurs squad.
And Elliott offers that without lacking qualities in other areas. Although the small sample size may skew the stats, his combined goals and assist per game would have the equal of Maddison and more than anyone else in Spurs’ side this past season. He would have been right up there the season before, too, when he played rather more, racking up 0.6 goal contributions per 90 minutes, again despite playing in midfield.
He’s effective in the press and tracking back, his movement off the ball is impeccable, and there are few weaknesses to his game save, perhaps, for relatively unreliable judgement over when to take a defender on one-on-one or to look for an alternative. That’s a straw being clutched at – Elliott passes both the eye test and the statistics deep dive with flying colours.
In short, whyever Slot decided to pass Elliott over, there is plenty of evidence that he would instantly be one of Spurs’ most dynamic and creative players, as his Player of the Tournament performance for the Under-21s, which included his scoring five goals in six games, neatly demonstrated.
That would have been true for Gibbs-White too, of course, and he carries the ball far better than Elliott does – but Elliott is cheaper and younger, with plenty of room to smooth off the few rough edges given that he’s only 22. As runners-up prizes go, Elliott would be a good one. Spurs should just make sure that they call the right person first this time.