As he made his way towards the tunnel after completing his warm-down exercises on the pitch, Morgan Gibbs-White was serenaded with noisy chants of his name from the Nottingham Forest fans.
The midfielder raised his hands above his head to applaud before then clasping them together into a heart shape to convey a simple message to those in the stands.
Will the 45 minutes and nine seconds of football Gibbs-White played in the first half of a 0-0 draw with Monaco of France’s Ligue 1 on Saturday be the last he plays in a Forest shirt?
The question of whether this was a goodbye will be answered in the coming days and weeks.
It does feel as though the saga — which began when Tottenham Hotspur made an offer of £60million for Forest’s talismanic player 10 days ago — is not yet definitively over.
Forest were frustrated that Spurs’ bid happened to precisely match a confidential release clause in Gibbs-White’s contract. But while those feelings are understandable, it will not guarantee an end to the London club’s interest in Forest’s most creative player.
Behind the scenes, it has been business as usual at Forest’s Nigel Doughty Academy, where Gibbs-White has been working hard with his team-mates since reporting back to begin pre-season training on Monday after England duty earlier in the summer.
When it comes to Gibbs-White, there have been no issues with the rest of the dressing room nor with the head coach, Nuno Espirito Santo, even if the club opted to keep him out of the limelight once more, with Nuno again not conducting post-match interviews after yesterday’s game, which saw him field entirely different teams in each half.
Ola Aina, who signed a new contract that runs until 2028 earlier this month, says the topic has been discussed in the dressing room, where Gibbs-White and Callum Hudson-Odoi — who is into the final year of his current deal — have been the subject of some lighthearted flak.
“We have a bit of banter about stuff like that! But it’s that person’s business,” says Aina. “Of course I would (like to see Gibbs-White stay). But I don’t know what’s going on. You’d have to ask Morgan. I don’t think it will be forgotten (what Gibbs-White has done for the club). Never. He’s a terrific player, and his football speaks for itself.
“Everyone is being professional. Right now, we just need to get our heads down and focus on pre-season. This is going to be another important season for us, and we look forward to that. We need to build on last season. We need to try to progress as players, a club and a team. We want to go a step further again.”
It is hard to assess a player’s mood when they are warming up in pouring rain for a pre-season friendly, but Gibbs-White looked lively enough as he went through a series of stretching exercises with Jota Silva.
Gibbs-White’s previous appearance in a Forest shirt had been in the frustrating 1-0 home defeat against Chelsea in May, which confirmed that the club would not secure the Champions League football that had been such a tantalising possibility for much of the campaign.
He stepped out yesterday in their smart new kit, which carries something of a resemblance to the pin-striped offering Forest wore in 1992-93, a season that began with them selling one of their best players — Teddy Sheringham — to Tottenham and ended, ultimately, in relegation from the top flight.
Forest want to build on the seventh-placed finish they secured last time out, as they prepare themselves to play on the European stage for the first time in three decades. But losing their most influential player in the build-up to the new campaign would not be the ideal preparation.
The fact that Gibbs-White has not been persuaded to sign a new contract, with two years left to run on the one he signed when he joined in a £25million — potentially rising to £42m — move from Wolves in the summer of 2022, leaves Forest in a vulnerable position.
Wolves went through a similar situation themselves last season with Matheus Cunha, their own attacking talisman. Arsenal and Forest had been interested in the Brazilian, but he signed a new contract in February, which included a release clause that fairly reflected his value — and ultimately led to a £62.5million move to Manchester United a few weeks ago.
When Gibbs-White’s name was on the team sheet yesterday for what was Forest’s second pre-season game, it raised the question of how he might be received amid the prospect of his potential departure, which had even seen Tottenham schedule a medical for him on July 11, prior to Forest seeking legal advice over their approach. But he was cheered as loudly as any other Forest player when the line-ups were read out.
Forest played with their familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, with Gibbs-White in his usual position in the 10, playing just behind striker Chris Wood, with Hudson-Odoi and Jota on the flanks.
In what was a competitive game for a friendly, there were a few moments where Gibbs-White demonstrated exactly why he had become such an integral figure for this team.
After drifting out wide towards the right, he looked up before delivering a high, looping ball towards the far post, into the path of a run from Wood, who could not quite control the pass. When Hudson-Odoi played Gibbs-White into space, he cut into the box purposefully, before holding his head in his hands after opting to shoot — with an effort that cleared the bar — rather than to fire the ball across goal.
More than once he received the ball at his feet, turned, and advanced gracefully forward into space, as we have seen him do so many times during his 118 official appearances for the club. Gibbs-White even attempted to win a header against Eric Dier. But the force of the former Spurs and Bayern Munich man’s robust challenge even left his own team-mate, Pape Cabral, down in a heap.
Gibbs-White is expected to be part of the Forest squad that flies to Portugal for a pre-season training camp next week. Beyond that, the future remains uncertain.
Has he burned his bridges at Forest? It does not feel that way. He remains a popular figure in the dressing room and the reception he received from the fans on Saturday suggests many of them remain onside with a player they know very well it would be hugely difficult for the club to replace.
(Top photo: Neal Simpson/Getty Images)