A new report has hypothesised one possible reason why Tottenham’s move for Morgan Gibbs-White could be being held up, as the Lilywhites and Nottingham Forest are engaged in a battle of brinkmanship.
Nottingham Forest are furious that Spurs knew of Gibbs-White’s confidential £60m release clause and are demanding to know how they did when they were not permitted to speak to the midfielder or his representatives.
While the outcome is still expected to end in Tottenham’s favour, reports indicate that Forest are not backing down and are determined to hold onto Morgan Gibbs-White.
Some Spurs fans have questioned if it’s time for Tottenham to move on from Gibbs-White, given that the saga has now dragged on for nearly a week, with no end in sight.
Gibbs-White remaining at Nottingham Forest raises questions about the deal
One interesting detail about this transfer is the fact that Morgan Gibbs-White is continuing to train with Nottingham Forest.
It is not a case of the Midlands club appealing after the transfer had been completed by the Lilywhites, as we have seen with other controversial moves in the past.
The Sun suggest that the fact that Gibbs-White is still at Forest raises the question of whether all the conditions of the release clause have been met by the North Londoners.
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It is explained that some release clauses are not as simple as just paying a specific figure and also involve certain conditions, such as a payment plan or stipulation on who the buying club is.
The report says that in theory, if Spurs have not met all of those conditions, it would mean that Gibbs-White’s release clause had not been activated.
The outlet suggests that such a scenario would add further weight to Forest’s claims of a breach of confidentiality and could explain why the transfer is currently in limbo.
In short, if there are a series of very detailed and exact terms in the release clause and Tottenham suddenly triggered them all, it would certainly add weight to the argument that they had prior knowledge of confidential information. Of course, this is all just hypothetical for the time being.
Morgan Gibbs-White could force a move to Tottenham
It has been pointed out by several outlets that Gibbs-White is now within his rights to force a move to Tottenham if his release clause had indeed been met by the North London club.
However, according to some sources, Gibbs-White has no intention of agitating for a move to Spurs as he does not want to destroy his relationship with Forest.