White transfer and worry that could emerge

Submitted by daniel on
Picture
Remote Image

Tottenham Hotspur remain hopeful of completing a deal for Morgan Gibbs-White with Nottingham Forest’s potential legal challenge likely to delay, rather than rule out, the transfer.

But amid the wait, there will be concern among Spurs fans that another club could swoop now that the attacking midfielder’s £60m release clause is public knowledge.

Forest’s reported potential legal challenge relates to a possible breach of a confidentiality agreement within Gibbs-White’s contract, with the club said not to have given permission for Tottenham to engage with the England international.

Football London’s Tottenham Hotspur reporter Alasdair Gold suggests progress could be made from Monday, with the weekend delaying developments.

He also thinks supporters in north London may be concerned that a player who looked on course for a medical could now be poached by a rival.

Gold wrote: “It's difficult to predict right now with complete certainty as it's an unusual situation, and that's reflected in media coverage across the board, but the feeling among many at this early stage seems to be that Forest are more likely to hold up the deal than prevent it.

“The fact that this has all happened just before a weekend means little was likely to progress in these two days when it comes to legal matters or potential Premier League complaints.

“Neither club is commenting on the situation and the Premier League also declined to comment when I approached them today about whether a complaint has actually been lodged by Forest.

“Spurs are believed to be hopeful the deal will go through eventually while Forest are distinctly unimpressed by the whole thing, as they could lose both Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga in the space of a handful of days which won't go down well with their fans.

“Much will come down to the legal aspect of the contract and the details within it, for from the outside it seems simple enough that amid it all a release clause has been triggered regardless of whether the Midlands club wanted knowledge of it to be available.

“The worry of course for Tottenham fans will be whether this delay in proceedings allows another club to enter the fray and go about it in a way that Forest do not have an issue with.

“However, that also surely gets messy from a legal standpoint as Spurs had the deal all but done with the player set for his medical before Forest reportedly cut off communications.

“I would imagine Monday will bring with it far more answers in terms of whether a complaint has been formally submitted with the Premier League and whether anything of a legal nature has truly begun or whether it was simply considered and found to be fruitless.”