It’s safe to say that Nottingham Forest would be in danger of relegation without Morgan Gibbs-White.
In Saturday’s 2-2 home tie with previous team Wolves, the 24-year-old scored a goal. As a result, Forest is now just one point above the relegation zone. Their excessive spending after returning to the Premier League may come back to haunt the Midlands team, as there is a chance they will lose more points before the season ends.
Financial infractions imply they might still need to sell assets to help balance the books, even if they manage to stay afloat, and Gibbs-White is the most valuable asset at the City Ground. Given his performance since joining Forest from Wolves in 2022, that is not shocking. After being instrumental in Sheffield United’s playoff run, Forest’s promotion saw them shell out a lot of cash to get Gibbs-White.
Even though they needed to strengthen the team after returning to the Premier League, Forest has come under fire for an unwise spending spree. However, giving up a reputed £25 million for Gibbs-White—plus another possible £17 million in add-ons—was a wise transfer decision.
With a few games remaining, the midfielder, who went on to score five goals and record nine assists in his rookie season at the City Ground, is only one assist shy of matching that total. Gibbs-White must be playing at his peak from now until the end of the season if Forest is to defeat the drop, but even that could work against Nuno’s team.
It’s expected that Gibbs-White will be a Premier League player next season regardless of Forest’ fortunes over the next few weeks. Should he continue to shine for the Midlands side, then the number of vultures circling Forest will continue to rise. Newcastle are already believed to be considering Gibbs-White as a potential replacement for Bruno Guimaraes this summer, while the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham have been credited with an interest in the player.
A drop in form, meanwhile, would severely impact Forest’s chances of staying up. Gibbs-White is, after all, their best rated player in the Premier League this season with a WhoScored.com rating of 6.99 to his name. And what will appeal to potential suitors is Gibbs-White’s ability to play any number of roles across the frontline.
While best suited as a number 10, the Forest man is comfortable playing out wide, or even in leading the charge. Operating in a more reserved role allows for Gibbs-White to maximise his vision while in possession to pry apart defences. Indeed, a total of 15 accurate through balls since the start of last season ranks eighth in the Premier League, and crucially; those above him for this metric play for teams that are expected to dominate possession.
When you consider interested sides are likely to see more of the ball than Forest, then this would hand Gibbs-White more opportunities to really utilise his creative talents. That’s not to say that he doesn’t offer plenty off the ball, too.
For a Forest side that does look to counter opponents – only West Ham (9) have scored more counter attacking goals than Nuno’s side (8) in England’s top tier this term – they need their attacking players to help pull their weight when out of possession to then break forward at speed.
Gibbs-White does carry this out to a decent standard having won possession in the attacking third 20 times, that ranking 37th in the Premier League this season, while 1.1 tackles per 90 is also a solid average. With that, it’s easy to see why a number of European chasing sides are keen on Gibbs-White in the off-season.
With a host of sides looking to make bargain buys to bolster their respective squads, Gibbs-White could prove the very best of the bunch. Forest fans need to make the most of the final weeks of the campaign if only to enjoy Gibbs-White for that bit longer before he departs because with the calibre of teams interested in the player; they’ll find it nigh-on impossible to retain his services beyond the summer.
