Spurs have been accused of ‘tapping up’ Morgan Gibbs-White, thus joining six other Premier League clubs who previously made ‘illegal approaches’.
Just as everything seemed to finally be coming up roses for Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest decided to throw a spanner into the works.
Spurs appeared to seal a stunning double deal worth around £115m for Mohammed Kudus and Gibbs-White inside 24 hours, but their move for the latter is currently ‘off’ as Forest have cut contact with their Premier League rivals and accused them of making an ‘illegal approach’ and ‘tapping up’ the England international.
The current regime at Forest is not known for being petty whatsoever, so there must be some legitimacy to their claims of wrongdoing on Tottenham’s end, though this is unlikely to completely end their hopes of landing Gibbs-White this summer.
Past examples of similar ‘tapping up’ offences lead us to presume that Gibbs-White to Spurs will eventually be back on and Forest’s complaint will purely delay the inevitable, but Thomas Frank and Daniel Levy at least face a nervy wait for a conclusion to this messy saga.
Thankfully for Spurs, there have been endless more examples of ‘illegal approaches’ over the years, with FC Barcelona, unsurprisingly, among the main culprits of bending regulations to get what they want.
But we have decided to focus on the Premier League and picked out six notable examples of clubs making ‘illegal approaches’ for signings before Spurs became the latest…
Arsenal and Mykhaylo Mudryk
“From my point of view, this is why everybody talked about Arsenal: it is because Arsenal contacted the player almost one and a half months before they contacted us.”
Since the infamous 2023 love triangle involving Arsenal and Chelsea as they vied for Mudryk, the January transfer window has never been as good, with this saga reaching peak bitchiness.
Shakhtar Donetsk CEO Sergei Palkin was an outspoken side character during this dispute, accusing Arsenal of “contacting” Mudryk before receiving permission to do so.
As it turns out, Arsenal’s prolonged pursuit of Mudryk came to no avail anyway, with Chelsea performing a successful hijack to steal the winger from under their rival’s nose.
Still, all’s well that ends well for the Gunners; cheaper alternative Leandro Trossard’s output at the Emirates far outweighs what Mudryk has produced at Chelsea, which was bugger all before he recently got charged for doping.
READ: Stunning Spurs double swoop worth £115m among biggest steps down in transfer history
Aston Villa and James Beattie
Villa are on thin ice when it comes to the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability regulations, with their issues compounded by that referee mistake contributing to their heartbreaking near-miss with Champions League qualification.
The Villans are currently spinning plates as they look to avoid a PSR breach and are yet to make a signing, with underhanded tactics potentially required to kickstart their summer business.
In 2004, they resorted to desperate measures as they were charged with ‘tapping up’ Beattie. Former boss David O’Leary had publicly claimed that the striker wanted to join the Villans after they had a bid rejected by Southampton.
O’Leary was not subtle at all with his comments: “All I can say is that I think there’s a player there who definitely wants to join us. He has an opportunity to join a few people, but I think he sees the way we play is good for strikers and that he will get a few goals.”
This did not end up working for Villa, as the 90-goal Premier League striker instead joined high-flying rivals Everton in 2005.
Chelsea and Ashley Cole
This transfer saga remains one of the most controversial – and protracted – in the sport’s history, with Chelsea’s dramatic move for Arsenal’s academy product taking over a year to finally go through.
As is the case with several football scandals, it started via a meeting at a hotel as Cole and then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho (plus the player’s agent and club directors) were caught red-handed discussing a move to Stamford Bridge in January 2005; the talks were held without Arsenal being given prior warning. Tut tut.
Each party was subsequently fined, ranging from £75,000 to £300,000, while Cole’s agent – Jonathan Barnett – was given an 18-month suspension.
A month after these punishments were handed out, Cole gave his half-hearted commitment to Arsenal by penning a one-year contract, but the bad blood remained as each side eventually compromised on their initial demands to agree a £5m deal for the left-back, which saw William Gallas move in the other direction too.
From this bitter dispute to current Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta being obsessed with signing Chelsea players, it’s a funny old game…
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Liverpool and Virgil van Dijk
The 2024/25 Premier League champions are rightly credited as experts at wheeling and dealing, which has been further proven by their recent business and a genius £75m worst-case scenario.
However, FSG have not always acted with grace and decorum when dealing with other clubs, as they royally p*ssed off Southampton during the 2017 summer transfer window.
This came as Liverpool targeted Van Dijk, with a meeting in the particularly glamorous location of Blackpool used by Jurgen Klopp to entice the centre-back. All was going to plan until Southampton caught wind of what was going on.
Southampton passed their grievances to the Premier League, but decided against pursuing damages as an apology from Klopp calmed the situation before Van Dijk joined the Reds in a record deal only six months later.
Liverpool would have surely ended 2017 on Santa’s naughty list as they were also fined £100,000 and given a two-year ban from signing academy players at rival English clubs after sneakily attempting to lure a Stoke City youngster to Anfield.
READ: Why Champions League squad rules are throttling Spurs and Newcastle
Man City and Juma Bah
The Cityzens give out the perception that they are guilt-free and have not been cheating their way to success, despite somehow still having around 130 alleged breaches of FFP rules looming over their heads.
City are adamant that nothing dodgy has gone on as they have achieved success and we may eventually learn whether they are telling the truth.
In the meantime, Man City have gone about business as usual and have overseen a significant squad overhaul since this year’s January window, which was brought forward by last season’s alarming downfall under Pep Guardiola.
City were January’s biggest spenders in Europe and former Real Valladolid centre-back Bah was one of their additions, though this deal went through after they were said to be “behind” the 19-year-old “breaking his contract”, forcing legal action to be “initiated”.
Nothing to see here, folks…
Newcastle United and Charles N’Zogbia
Former Newcastle, Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa winger N’Zogbia…now that’s what we call a Barclaysman.
N’Zogbia spent his whole senior career in the Premier League before retiring in 2016, but his arrival was far from rosy as French outfit Le Havre, who pulled a similar trick when trying to retain Manchester United-bound Paul Pogba, tried desperately to keep him.
Newcastle spotted N’Zogbia as a teenager and pushed for a free transfer after he impressed on trial, but their hopes of a simple transaction proved short-lived as Le Havre “blocked” the deal, because the Frenchman was “trapped” into a three-year deal with the structure of an educational contract.
Thankfully for Newcastle, FIFA ruled in their favour and the Premier League side only had to pay around £250,000 in compensation for N’Zogbia, who made 155 appearances for the club before moving elsewhere.
