WREXHAM, WALES - APRIL 10: Paul Mullin of Wrexham celebrates with Ollie Palmer and team mates after scoring the team's first goal during the Vanarama National League match between Wrexham and Notts County at The Racecourse on April 10, 2023 in Wrexham, Wales. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
assuming they win their Sunday afternoon match against Burnley and Luton Town doesn’t defeat Fulham by the same score. Of course, stranger things have happened than that improbable twelve-goal swing, but not often or in large quantities.
But Forest’s troubles this summer could not end with a relegation struggle. The Midlands club is under pressure from strict regulatory bodies and may be coming to terms with the fact that one or more of their star players may be traded during the transfer window in order to balance the books. The Midlands club has already lost points this season due to financial irregularities.
Among those most frequently mentioned for a sale is Morgan Gibbs-White. Although the playmaker has had a significant impact on Forest throughout their Premier League tenure, his plethora of quality is, paradoxically, what makes him such a strong contender to leave the team. Few players on Nuno Espirito Santo’s team are as good as he is, and even fewer could command such a high price all at once.
In fact, Forest has placed a £60 million price tag on their creative talisman, according to a Football Insider report. Journalist Pete O’Rourke stated on the Inside Track podcast of the online site that the team anticipated “massive” interest in the midfield player over the next few weeks and that they thought he was their “most sellable asset.”
As he attempts to break into the senior England squad in the near future, it is implied that Gibbs-White might be open to the idea of a move as well. Undoubtedly, considering that teams like Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur are interested in him, one would think that if a transfer were to occur, it would significantly increase his profile in the English game.
Between those two teams, Spurs are reportedly the ones pursuing a player who has five goals and ten assists in 36 Premier League games this year. But from Forest’s point of view, it hardly matters where he ends up. Who can submit the highest bid for his services, however, is what counts.
Because ultimately, nobody in their right mind affiliated with Forest would want the 24-year-old to leave the City Ground this summer; he is the fulcrum on which so much of his side’s best work pivots, and with every passing month he seems to grow into his role as Nuno’s leading man more and more. But Forest, tangled up in the fiscal chaos that they are, desperately need some kind of scapegoat to drain the swelling. Gibbs-White would undoubtedly represent the most lucrative, and therefore most effective, way of doing exactly that.
It may sting and rankle somewhat, but Forest may not have much of a choice. As painful as it might be, they can go a long, long way towards solving their problems by selling Gibbs-White.
