It has now come to light that Nottingham Forest were on the verge of striking a part-exchange deal with Manchester City involving Morgan Gibbs-White before Tottenham activated the midfielder’s release clause last week.
Nottingham Forest have accused Tottenham of an illegal approach for Gibbs-White after Spurs activated the 25-year-old’s £60m release clause.
The Midlands club are demanding to know how the North London club knew of the confidential clause when they were not given permission to speak to the player or his agent.
While the outcome is expected to end in Spurs’ favour, the issue for Tottenham Hotspur is that the Premier League have not given a timeline for the Gibbs-White dispute, and it is thus unclear how long this matter can drag on.
Morgan Gibbs-White’s move to Man City was hijacked by Tottenham
Football Insider now claim that the England international was close to completing a move to Man City before Tottenham entered the equation.
The outlet says that Forest were in talks with City over a deal that would have seen Gibbs-White go to Manchester in exchange for cash plus City starlet James McAtee.
The transfer was close to being finalised, and Forest were confident that they would land McAtee, but Tottenham then activated Gibbs-White’s release clause.
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The former Wolves man changed his mind and gave the green light to join Spurs before the move was dramatically halted by Forest’s legal challenge.
The report asserts that it was Gibbs-White’s U-turn over his future that made Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis very angry.
Tottenham can hand Nottingham Forest a double blow
A number of sources continue to indicate that Forest’s legal challenge will not stop Gibbs-White from joining Tottenham, and is only expected to temporarily halt the transfer.
Additionally, it has been reported by some outlets that Spurs are also big admirers of James McAtee.