As Spurs struggle to get a key transfer over the line, could Chelsea offer their target an alternative?
Sign up to our newsletter for the most distinctive football content delivered direct to your inbox
Sign up
Thank you for signing up!
Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to 3 Added Minutes, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
Submitting...
The strange circumstances surrounding Morgan Gibbs-White’s pending transfer to Tottenham Hotspur makes it hard to know which of the teams involved is in more of a bind – Spurs or Nottingham Forest.
Spurs identified Gibbs-White as precisely the kind of versatile and direct attacking playmaker they needed to liven up an attack that went rather stale last season, but are now in limbo with the transfer on ice as Nottingham Forest register complaints about the nature of their bid, which triggered a £60m release clause that Forest believe Spurs should only have known about had they gone through the club.
That makes it hard for Spurs to move forward – will they get their man or do they need to find someone else? – but it puts Forest in an awkward spot, too. According to The Daily Mail, they would not prefer to sell to another team, seemingly to spite Spurs, but the only other obvious candidate for a deal, Manchester City, don’t plan any further attacking signings. Forest may have to either sell to Spurs or force a potential malcontent player to stay.
There is, of course, a third way for Forest. Find another buyer. And among the teams who might afford £60m and have an apparent need for a player like Gibbs-White, there’s only one team that jumps out: Chelsea.
Could Chelsea make a move for Morgan Gibbs-White?
Back in June, a few media sources suggested that Gibbs-White was on Chelsea’s radar, including transfer journalist Ben Jacobs who suggested that Enzo Maresca and his hyperactive transfer team “appreciated him” – but no bid ever materialised and that interest never crystallised into anything more tangible.
Chelsea certainly want to add more attacking reinforcements despite the acquisitions of João Pedro, Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens and the imminent arrivals of South American prodigies Kendry Páez and Estevão Willian. That may be a lot of fresh faces, but there are just as many heading towards the exit door.
With Raheem Sterling, Christopher Nkunku, João Félix and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all either up for sale or members of the infamous ‘bomb squad’, Mykhaylo Mudryk suspended due to an alleged doping violation and Noni Madueke already sold to Arsenal, the five new players coming in are effectively filling six vacancies. One more player is almost certain to be added.
At the moment, Gibbs-White is not the leading candidate, however much admiration Chelsea might have for him. Reports suggest that talks have taken place over a move for RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons, who would cost around the same as Gibbs-White, and should those discussions lead nowhere it appears that Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers would be their second choice.
But deals fall through all the time, and should Simons prove unobtainable for any reason the Rogers would not be easy to sign – Villa may be in a relatively tight spot in relation to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules but they are not in so deep that they would be compelled to sell a player they view as a key part of their future plans. In short, Gibbs-White could re-enter the picture.
Whether that happens quickly enough for Nottingham Forest’s purposes, of course, is an open question. Forest’s complaints have blocked the transfer to Tottenham for now, but the barrier may not hold forever if those complaints are dismissed by the relevant authorities.
But Chelsea need a player like Gibbs-White who not only fits Maresca’s methods and tactical ideology but has the positional versatility to cover multiple positions behind the central striker. It’s not a great leap of the imagination to see a deal taking place, even if a few dominoes need to fall first.
Why Nottingham Forest will likely still sell Gibbs-White to Spurs
None of that makes Chelsea a likely destination for Gibbs-White, of course – they just come in as the only other club in the Premier League who have the right combination of tactical needs and transfer funds to plausibly make an offer.
Manchester City were heavily linked with Gibbs-White through the spring and early summer, but instead signed Lyon’s Rayan Cherki and now consider their transfer business to be completed, save for possible outgoings, including the likely departure of James McAtee, who could easily end up at Forest.
The Manchester Evening News’ latest reports on their interest in Gibbs-White plainly suggest that they will not be weighing in with a bid despite their long-standing admiration of the player, and with Chelsea only a hypothetical option for now and more likely to sign Simons, Spurs are probably the only buyer.
Some reports have suggested that Forest will drop their complaints should Daniel Levy throw another £5m into the bargain, although it’s hard to imagine that Spurs would do that unless they have no alternative. Those reports do hint at a certain understanding of the reality that Gibbs-White will be leaving one way or the other, however.
And however angry Forest may be with Spurs, they may be ultimately be compelled to sell Gibbs-White to them simply because there is no alternative, save to attempt to force a wantaway player to stay at the City Ground – the kind of move that seldom has a positive outcome.
One way or the other, Forest likely know that there is only one way that this transfer saga ends, and that’s with Gibbs-White in a white shirt. Their delaying tactics might just buy them time to find another buyer or force Spurs to cough up a little more cash, but the smart bet is on Gibbs-White playing football in North London by September. But if Evangelos Marinakis happens to have Behdad Eghbali’s phone number, it might just be worth a call.