Football London

Thomas Frank is a big believer in the use of the long throw and the background of a Destiny Udogie social media post suggests Tottenham will be featuring them heavily in their play.

Brentford have been purveyors in the Premier League since their promotion of launching long throws into the opposition box from the attacking areas of the pitch. Frank's team led the way in the competition by a distance last season when it came to long throws hurled into the penalty area.

Now the Dane looks set to bring that direct weapon to Spurs and it will likely fall under the remit of ex-Manchester United and Arsenal coach Andreas Georgson, who previously worked with Frank at Brentford. The Swede has been named as one of the first team assistant coaches with an expertise in set pieces, both attacking and defensive, and restarts during matches.

Back in 2021 after newly-promoted Brentford's long throws had caused chaos in a match against Arsenal, Frank had said: "I see the long throw as a weapon like I see the short throw or wide free-kicks or breakthroughs. I just see it as another area we need to master.

“Friday night, I felt it was an area we were stronger than Arsenal – that’s why we put a lot of throws in. But it’s not to say we would do it every single game. Last year in the Championship, we did it some games and other games we didn’t.

"Are we going to be the new Stoke? I hope we’re going to play a few more passes. For me, it’s not one or the other. It’s both. I hugely respect teams that are strong on set pieces or long throws. We will try to do both, to build up from the back sometimes but also go more direct sometimes."

Now eagle-eyed fans have spotted in the background of a Snapchat video from Udogie proof that Spurs will be utilising long throws. The Italian left-back uploaded a video on Monday from within the Tottenham dressing room at Hotspur Way showing Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Pedro Porro all dancing to music.

During their dancing, on a screen at the back wall of the room, a timetable for the day flashed up. It showed things like a meeting before medical and individual prep and then training before lunch. On the other half of the screen it displayed what training would entail that day, including possession work but also at the bottom of the list were the words 'long throw auditions'.

All eyes will now be on who won the audition and will be found hurling long throws into the opposition box in the months ahead. Saturday's first pre-season friendly under Frank at Reading could give us an early indication of who came out on top.

It’s been a busy week for Tottenham as their summer transfer plans begin to take shape.

Permanent moves for Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel have already been confirmed following their loan spells, while teenager Luka Vuskovic’s transfer was finalised after a deal had originally been agreed back in 2023. In the past week, young centre-back Kota Takai has been announced, while Mohammed Kudus was unveiled following his move from West Ham.

That said, there is still plenty of work to do as new manager Thomas Frank looks to stamp his authority on the squad he inherited from Ange Postecoglou. Despite the club’s underwhelming Premier League finish last season, their Europa League triumph has left them in a strong position, with Champions League football secured for the coming campaign.

Here, football.london takes a look at the work Spurs still need to complete this summer...

Gibbs-White resolution

Following Kudus’ announcement last week, news also emerged that Spurs were closing in on Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White. The London club had triggered his £60m release clause, and he was expected to undergo a medical on Friday.

However, the deal was thrown into doubt after Forest reportedly sought legal advice and are considering action over an alleged illegal approach. They claim Spurs did not have permission to speak with Gibbs-White and that a breach of confidentiality occurred regarding his release clause.

While Spurs remain intent on completing the move, they’ll be cautious about letting the situation drag into a lengthy saga. A delay doesn’t necessarily signal the end of the deal, but the club cannot afford to become entangled in a legal dispute that distracts from other business.

Yoane Wissa deal

Despite Kudus’ arrival, Spurs continue to be linked with additional forward options. One name frequently mentioned - and well known to the manager - is Brentford’s Yoane Wissa.

The 28-year-old scored 20 goals and provided five assists across all competitions last season and is now entering the final 12 months of his contract at the Gtech Community Stadium. However, any move may prove tricky for Spurs, as Bryan Mbeumo is also expected to depart amid interest from Manchester United, and Brentford may be reluctant to lose two key attackers in one window.

Midfield changes

Beyond the potential Gibbs-White signing, questions remain over Spurs’ midfield. Yves Bissouma has been linked with a move away this summer, meaning reinforcements in the middle of the park may be required.

Several names have been mentioned in recent weeks, including Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, former Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, and Bayern Munich’s Joao Palhinha. What happens with Gibbs-White could prove decisive, but Spurs cannot afford to overlook the need to strengthen their defensive midfield options.

Mohammed Kudus joked to a doctor that he would find Tottenham in his heart when he began examining him during his medical at the north London club.

The 24-year-old appeared to have quickly taken to his new surroundings at Hotspur Way as he was making the £55million move from London rivals West Ham to Spurs. New footage released by the club has shown Kudus being put through his medical at the training complex and also meeting his new head coach Thomas Frank.

In the footage, the Dane came into the room and asked his new winger if he has everything he needs and whether he's ready to go. To which the Ghana international enthusiastically responded 'Yeah!' before Frank asked when his family are coming to join him and the player replied that they will be coming the following day.

The new Spurs head coach then warmly said "I'd like to meet them" before leaving and struggling to find his way out of the medical area, showing how new it all is to him still as well.

Soon after in the footage the heart specialist told Kudus "I'm going to listen to your heart ok?". Without missing a beat, if you'll pardon the pun, the attacker responded "You'll find Spurs there", which brings a smile from the doctor who then says "I can hear the cockerel now".

After going through his various MRI tests and then his kit shots in the home and away shirts as well as his media duties, the new Tottenham signing was given a surprise.

Spurs had been working with Ghanaian musician Stonebwoy and they reveal to Kudus that his compatriot has recorded a new track for him for his transfer. The new signing, who has become Ghana's most expensive player, then had a video call with the musician and his family and seemed genuinely touched by it all.

Kudus will now be getting down to work at the north London club and Spurs fans will be hoping they might seen him in action for the first time in their club's shirt in Saturday's first friendly under Frank at Reading.

It became pretty clear early last season that the summer of 2025 was always going to be a big one for Tottenham Hotspur. Ange Postecoglou's squad was decimated by a mountain of injuries but somehow they managed to stick together and lift the Europa League trophy come May.

Domestically it was a season to forget, though. The Lilywhites finished 17th in the Premier League table and new head coach Thomas Frank has plenty to do to guide his team back up towards the top of the standings.

Spurs have already added to their numbers for the new term with Mathys Tel signing permanently, Kota Takai joining from Kawasaki Frontale and Mohammed Kudus completing a £55million move from West Ham. Tottenham did look like they were going to complete another big-money transfer at the end of last week with the £60million addition of Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest.

The move has since hit a bit of a stumbling block with his current club believing an illegal approach had been made to their player without their permission. They also believed that the confidentiality of Gibbs-White's £60million release clause had been breached with suggestions that Spurs made a bid that was exactly what was required to release him.

Everything has since ground to a halt and it has left the transfer in limbo for now. Tottenham still want to press ahead with a deal and the hope from a Spurs perspective will be that it goes through sooner rather than later.

Gibbs-White appears to be the perfect player for Frank's system due to the creative side of his game and also his energy. Frank did previously want to sign him for Brentford during the player's time at Wolves, with the Dane potentially now set to get his hands on him at Tottenham.

The England international enjoyed a brilliant season at the City Ground in 2024/25 and was a key reason for Nuno Espirito Santo's men claiming a European place against the odds. Rather than playing for Forest in the Conference League, or perhaps now Europa League due to Crystal Palace's demotion to UEFA's third club competition, Gibbs-White could be set to be playing his football in the Champions League.

What his £60million move to Tottenham does do is raise questions over a couple of players already at the club. James Maddison is the first of those.

Gibbs-White has experience in a variety of positions in the final third but he will be expected to start in his favoured No.10 role considering the money Spurs look set to splurge on him. That in turn may mean that Maddison is no longer guaranteed a starting spot in the Tottenham XI.

What that should do is bring out the very best in both players as that extra competition should hopefully spur them on to new heights and secure that place in Frank's starting team. If he is to find himself on the bench at times, Maddison can be an excellent option to bring on if Spurs need a creative spark to win them a game.

Rotation is going to be required over the course of the season with Tottenham competing on four fronts, meaning Gibbs-White will be rested from time to time. As was the case in the Europa League last term, Spurs will have eight games in the league phase of the competition before the knockout round commences in early 2026.

A deal for Gibbs-White also raises a question about what is in store for Dejan Kulusevski. The Swede is currently working his way back to fitness after sustaining a knee injury leading up to the Europa League final.

Speaking at the time, Postecoglou admitted that his player would be out of action for "at least" a few months. New head coach Frank will speak to the media very soon considering Spurs have pre-season friendlies on the calendar and a potential return date for the ex-Parma man could soon become clear.

Kulusevski has confessed in the past he does prefer to operate centrally and he did flourish there when played by Postecoglou last season. Whether he plays on the right-wing or as a No.10, the Sweden international has plenty of competition as there will be Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert, Yang Min-hyeok and Kudus competing for a spot on the right and then Gibbs-White and Maddison at No.10.

Tottenham are a much better team for having Kulusevski in there and it will be interesting to see if he flicks between the two positions or just stays in the one role. The increased competition is exactly what Spurs need, though, after their troubles in 2024/25 and it should stand them in good stead under Frank going forward.

Now all they have to do is complete the signing of Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest.

Thomas Frank now has his full Tottenham squad to work with following the return of the club's international players earlier this week. Starting pre-season training at Hotspur Way last weekend with those not involved in international action during the summer as well as the returning loan stars, the numbers have been boosted over the past few days with a large chunk of players beginning their training for the new season.

Frank can now take a look at his full squad and start making decisions as he gets his plans in place ahead of the Premier League opener against Burnley. The first opportunity to see the Dane's Tottenham team will be one week today when the team face Reading in a friendly at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Tottenham have once again given fans an insight into how pre-season training is going following the release of another video. Here's what we spotted from the latest video and social media posts:

Sonny returns

Son Heung-min is now back at Tottenham's Enfield base following his time off this summer. The captain arrived back slightly later than his fellow internationals as football.london understands he had some pre-agreed family commitments to attend to.

There was no sign of Son in the club's latest training video but they did publish a photo of him returning to Hotspur Way on their Instagram account on Friday afternoon. It remains to be seen what will happen with the 33-year-old over the coming weeks amid talk of a Tottenham exit after ten years in N17.

Dragusin steps up fitness

Radu Dragusin will be hoping to be make his Tottenham return sooner than later after last playing at the end of January. The Romanian centre-back sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the Europa League win over Elfsborg and has since been putting in the hours behind the scenes.

In Tottenham's training video, Dragusin could be seen stepping up his fitness in the gym as he looks to ensure he is in the best possible shape to return before finally getting back on the grass with his teammates. Things have changed in his position since his injury as Kevin Danso is now at the club and Luka Vuskovic is finally an option after Tottenham agreed to sign the highly-rated centre-back from Hajduk Split two years ago.

International players do running drill

Running is a big part of pre-season training and it came to no surprise to see Frank and his coaching team have a big fitness test in store for the squad. The players had to complete 1km worth of fast shuttle runs but it had to be done within three minutes and 15 seconds.

Spurs fans have this week seen the videos on the club's media channels of the players looking exhausted after the run, with Dominic Solanke appearing to make light work of it going by his reaction. The Tottenham international players who missed out first time got to try it for themselves upon their return to training.

Pape Matar Sarr immediately dropped to the floor after completing the run and could later be seen waving his finger at the camera, while Richarlison could also be seen lying on the ground with his hands on his head. Hopefully it stands them all in good stead for the new season.

Otte gets to work

Tottenham have a new goalkeeper coach as part of the changes taking place at the club following Frank's appointment as head coach. After bidding farewell to Rob Burch, Fabian Otte, who was at Liverpool working with Alisson last season, has been appointed in his place with Dean Brill becoming first team assistant goalkeeping coach.

The new team could be seen putting the club's goalkeepers through their paces at Hotspur Way with a variety of different drills. Guglielmo Vicario, Antonin Kinsky, Brandon Austin and Luca Gunter were the goalkeepers in question with plenty of praise coming their way from the new man.

Solomon involved

Manor Solomon's future remains up in the air at present as it's not clear yet if he still has a Tottenham future or he will move on elsewhere. The winger enjoyed an incredible loan spell at Leeds United last term as he helped the West Yorkshire club return to the Premier League following their relegation in 2023.

Frank has so many wide options available to him right now and he will have a big decision to make when it comes to Solomon. The player will have the opportunity to wow the Dane over the next few weeks as the team do have friendlies at Reading and Luton to come before departing for their summer tour of Asia.

All the player can do right now as try and catch the eye on the training pitch and then do likewise when the games come around.

Tottenham Hotspur will be hoping to reproduce what Chelsea did on Sunday when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup final next month but what happens with that hair-pulling red card for Joao Neves?

The Blues shocked the French side in the FIFA Club World Cup final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey by racing into a 3-0 lead in the first half on Sunday, with two goals from Cole Palmer and another from Joao Pedro. Luis Enrique's Champions League winners could not find a way back into the game in the USA. That task had become all the more difficult towards the end of the game when Neves got himself sent off.

After being barged into by Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella during a moment off the ball, the 20-year-old Portuguese midfielder responded by yanking the long hair of the Spaniard, who immediately fell to the floor. The Video Assistant Referee advised referee Alireza Faghani to check his pitch-side monitor and the official took little time in sending Neves off after he was deemed to have committed violent conduct.

Tensions had already been rising among the frustrated PSG players with some late lunges and Neves had previously tried to lift Cucurella off the floor following one challenge after feeling the Chelsea man was time-wasting.

After the game there were further clashes between players and PSG boss Enrique appeared to catch new Chelsea signing Joao Pedro in the face at one point.

"At the end of the match, there is a lot of tension. There was a situation that I believe could have been avoided by everyone. I think that is logical," said Enrique afterwards. "I am going to prevent my players from going any further in that brawl and from then on there is pushing and shoving by everyone.

"I think and I repeat, that is not the best thing to do. It’s the result of the tension, the result of the situation of the match and I have nothing more to add."

Unfortunately for Tottenham it appears that any disciplinary issues certainly for Neves arising from the game in New Jersey are unlikely to have a knock-on effect for the match in Udine next month on August 13.

football.london spoke to UEFA about the red card for Neves, who played almost every minute as PSG won the Champion League last season, and any potential disciplinary action for Enrique and was told that as it was a FIFA tournament then nothing will spill automatically into a UEFA competition. The only way it would was if FIFA made any ban a worldwide one which would seem unlikely at this stage for Neves at least.

Instead Tottenham will have to focus on finding a similarly successful formula to Chelsea's to get past PSG. The French side will now need at least three weeks off by FIFA regulations so Spurs will be hoping that the opponents in Thomas Frank's first competitive game will be a little lacking sharpness as they will only return to pre-season training in the days ahead of the Super Cup in Italy.

Tottenham have arguably been working in the shadows of this summer transfer window with all three confirmed signings arriving without much outside noise.

The first of those involved Mathys Tel returning to north London on a permanent basis from Bayern Munich and despite negotiations taking place for a number of weeks, it was kept relatively quiet before it was revealed that Spurs had agreed to pay £30 million for the player.

A deal for Japanese wonderkid Kota Takai followed that, seemingly out of nowhere, with his switch from Kawasaki Frontale announced last week. Strengthening further in attack was still an aim with Mohammed Kudus becoming the focus after interest cooled in Eberechi Eze and Bryan Mbeumo.

Talks with West Ham for the Ghana international had taken place but transfer talk went quiet after the Lilywhites saw their opening bid rejected. An agreement was then struck at £55million last week with that update arriving as quite the bombshell and his switch was announced just 24 hours later.

If that came as a surprise, Tottenham supporters were certainly not prepared for news the following day with a move for Morgan Gibbs-White made and apparently finalised in just a few hours. A £60m release clause in his contract was why the transfer moved so swiftly, however his switch has been delayed.

Soon after it was revealed Gibbs-White would undergo a medical on Friday, it emerged that Forest were considering legal action. The Midlands side are of the belief that Spurs made an illegal approach for the 25-year-old and that a confidential release clause was made known.

While it is quite an unprecedented situation, the general understanding is that it will still go through with football.london's Alasdair Gold stating that "Forest are more likely to hold up the deal than prevent it". As such, the hope will be that Gibbs-White can completing the move as long as these legalities are resolved.

With £115m set to be spent on two established Premier League players, Spurs appear to be in a great position, because of Champions League football and what appears to be investment into the club, to bring in a third.

Spurs need to sign a defensive midfielder and there is perhaps no better option than Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton. The 21-year-old showed how good he can be on several occasions last season with displays against Aston Villa and Manchester City in the Eagles' run to FA Cup success particularly impressive.

Unsurprisingly, he is unlikely to cost under £100m, but if Daniel Levy is serious about wanting Spurs to challenge for the Premier League and Champions League, these are the kind of moves that must be sanctioned.

Exits arriving following such a massive spend would likely be needed but Richarlison and Yves Bissouma, two names linked with leaving, want to stay and currently no team has actually showed a concrete interest. Cristian Romero joining Atletico Madrid also now looks off the table.

With Thomas Frank having got a look at his squad at the start of pre-season, loans or even permanent departures for young or fringe players may soon be sanctioned. Manor Solomon, Luka Vuskovic, Takai, Bryan Gil, Yang Min-hyeok and Dane Scarlett all arguably fit into that category.

It is unclear which name may move elsewhere but Tottenham currently have too many players, particularly in wide areas and at centre-back, and therefore do need to trim their squad. To raise funds, a permanent exit for Solomon seems to be the smartest decision with former loan club Leeds United likely to be interested.

The seemingly straightforward case of an England international, a £60million release clause and Tottenham trying to sign a Nottingham Forest player has so far proved to be far more complicated.

Spurs were all set to add the signing of Morgan Gibbs-White to the £55million purchase of Mohammed Kudus from West Ham and the £5million deal for Kota Takai from Kawasaki Frontale to complete a big £120million week of transfers that had the supporters getting excited again after a slow start to the window.

Then it all went rather wrong as Forest took issue with the transfer for the 25-year-old England international and everything suddenly ground to a halt. So what exactly happened, what comes next and how will it all end? football.london takes a look at all of that and the potential outcome.

What happened?

The move for Gibbs-White came out of the blue publicly, although behind the scenes Spurs have held a long-term interest in the former Wolves man and new head coach Thomas Frank wanted him at Brentford while he was at Wolves and is known to believe the midfielder is perfect for his set-up with his creativity and energy. So the approach made sense for all parties.

Tottenham made their move and it all seemed to be accelerating quickly. However, Forest took umbrage at it all, believing an illegal approach had been made to their player without their permission and that the confidentiality of Gibbs-White's £60million release clause had been breached with suggestions that Spurs made a bid that was exactly what was required to release him.

Forest reportedly ended communications with the north London club and everything suddenly ground to a halt. Having already sold Anthony Elanga to Newcastle for £52million, Nuno Espirito Santo's side were not planning on losing the England midfielder as well this summer.

Where was Gibbs-White in all of this?

The 25-year-old was set to have a medical at Tottenham but sources on various sides of the saga claim that the player never actually ended up leaving Nottingham and going to Hotspur Way as Forest's unhappiness and that of their owner Evangelos Marinakis was made very clear to Gibbs-White and all involved.

With everything that has happened since, that's probably an important aspect because had the midfielder gone to the Spurs training ground then the whole scenario might have become far worse, especially if Forest have officially claimed they did not give permission for any advancement of the deal.

Gibbs-White was not involved in Forest's 0-0 friendly draw at Chesterfield on Saturday because he was part of the group of international players who were not returning to training until this week. The midfielder duly returned to Forest's training ground on Monday morning as expected to report for pre-season and the club made it very clear he had by popping his photo up on social media.

What have Forest done?

Forest are now believed to have lodged their legal complaint over Tottenham's approach for Gibbs-White which the Premier League will have a duty to look into.

Who is saying what?

Officially nobody. Neither Forest nor Tottenham have made any comment on the situation and when contacted by football.london, the Premier League made it clear that they would not be commenting or providing guidance on what is happening. All understandable really with the legal aspect of things. So officially we're going to wait for this to run its course.

What comes next?

Now we will see if everything gets thrashed out between the various parties to end this transfer limbo. There seems to be a sense from various sides that the deal for Gibbs-White will eventually get done but it will certainly be made more difficult and take more time because of Forest's legal complaint.

Gibbs-White has two years remaining on his contract with Forest, who were keen to get him to extend his deal. It could be that Forest attempt to get more money out of Tottenham or look for the midfielder to forgo any bonuses he might be entitled to, or simply look for the north London club to be punished for what they see as an illegal approach.

Much will come down to the legality of how that release clause was triggered and its existence, secret or not, looks likely to be the Midlands side's biggest problem.

The longer things are drawn out, the more concern Spurs fans will have of another club looking to take advantage by swooping in to end it all but Forest would in that scenario not get any more money.

Gibbs-White certainly looked set on Tottenham though to work with Thomas Frank and reunite with former Forest team-mate Brennan Johnson and England colleague Dominic Solanke.

Some Forest fans have also decided that they no longer want Gibbs-White at their club if he was keen to make the move to the Europa League winners, which might make his exit less controversial for his club at this point.

At the moment the deal is expected to go through eventually, but Forest will certainly not be making it easy for Spurs to take away another one of their key players.

Tottenham Hotspur's pursuit of Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is proving to be anything but straightforward.

Last week, the Europa League winners were preparing for Gibbs-White to undergo a medical in north London ahead of signing for the club after they triggered a £60m release clause in his contract at the City Ground.

However, the east Midlands outfit were left furious with Spurs after what they believed to be an illegal approach for the 25-year-old.

As a result, it means that Tottenham's pursuit of Gibbs-White is likely to drag on for longer than expected.

And with that in mind, Football. London takes a look at the latest news surrounding the situation.

What are the latest reports on Morgan Gibbs-White?

Gibbs-White reported back to Nottingham Forest on Monday, July 14, after being handed an extended summer break.

The midfielder was one of several internationals absent from Saturday's 0-0 draw with Chesterfield after he was involved in England's friendlies against Andorra and Senegal at the start of June.

What has Football.London learnt about the Morgan Gibbs-White situation?

On Monday, football.London's Tottenham Hotspur reporter, Alasdair Gold, explained the complexity of the situation surrounding Gibbs-White while predicting that Forest are "more likely to hold up the deal than prevent it".

"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," wrote Gold.

"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 and clarity 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."

What's next for Tottenham Hotspur and Morgan Gibbs-White?

Speaking on talkSPORT over the weekend, football agent Sky Andrew explained how it will be difficult for Nottingham Forest to back up claims that Tottenham made an illegal approach for the midfielder.

“Here’s the thing, guys, it’s very difficult to prove that a club went directly to a player without the permission of the club. We’re getting into all sorts of things here — phone records and everything," said Andrew.

“If it goes to arbitration, where it must go within the football rules and regulations, then Forest will have to prove that the club went directly to the player or to the agent. Most clubs know that it is very difficult to prove.

“So, this is a case now of how much will the buying club pay for the player. It won’t be £60 million, it will probably have to be more.”

Tottenham are playing the waiting game when it comes to signing Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest.

Spurs had looked set to make the England international their fourth signing of the summer when activating his £60million release clause, agreeing personal terms and scheduling a medical for the 25-year-old.

But that was all put on hold on Friday as Nottingham Forest sought legal advice over what they perceived to be an illegal approach from Tottenham for the midfielder.

Forest were not impressed that Spurs had come in with the exact amount required to activate his release clause, with it supposed to have been confidential.

According to the Sun reporter Tom Barclay, Forest have lodged a legal complaint over the approach, although football.london understands that Spurs remain hopeful the deal will go through eventually.

Forest got their summer pre-season friendly schedule under way on Saturday as they took on Chesterfield, but Gibbs-White was not part of the squad. That was not down to an impending transfer to Tottenham, however.

The former Wolves man would reportedly not have been involved in the match against the League Two side regardless of the current situation with Spurs because he is part of a group of players who had been on international duty last month that are not due to return to Forest until later next week.

Gibbs-White did, however, return to Forest training on Monday and rather than keep it quiet and keep the 25-year-old out of the public eye, Forest made a point of putting him at front and centre of their social media campaign.

In a post on X Forest wrote: "Back with the group," with Gibbs-White and striker Chris Wood the first to be pictured arriving at the training ground.

It remains to be seen what will happen with Forest's legal complaint and whether it only serves to delay Spurs' approach to sign the player or if it means the deal is off completely.