How much?! Forest 'reach agreement to sign Gibbs-White for £44.5m'
How much?! Nottingham Forest reach agreement with Wolves to sign Morgan Gibbs-White for £44.5m with Steve Cooper’s side set to complete their SIXTEENTH signing of the summer as spending soars past £150m
- Nottingham Forest have reached an agreement to sign Morgan Gibbs-White
- Steve Cooper’s side have negotiated a £44.5m fee for the Wolves midfielder
- The England U21 star will become Forest’s 16th signing of the summer window
- The signing would take Cooper’s spending to over £150m for the window
Nottingham Forest have agreed a staggering £44.5million fee to sign Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White.
The 22-year-old, who spent last season on loan in the Championship with Sheffield United, is due to undergo a medical with Forest later today after a deal was struck between the two sides.
He’ll become Forest’s 16th summer signing and will bring their total spending for the transfer window to over £150million, as they prepare for a long Premier League season ahead.
Nottingham Forest have agreed a deal worth £44.5million to sign Morgan Gibbs-White
Steve Cooper’s side will have spent over £150million once the transfer goes through
Wolves had already rejected one approach from Forest for the midfielder, before accepting the lucrative deal worth £35million plus another £10million in add-ons.
Steve Cooper’s newly-promoted side have proved they’re not afraid to make bold decisions in the transfer market, having already made 15 additions and only being out-spent by Chelsea this summer.
Taiwo Awoniyi for £17million, Neco Williams for £17m plus add-ons and Jesse Lingard who signed for free but earns £120k-a-week are all statements of intent from Forest – along with a whole host of other new faces.
Gibbs-White was of particular interest to Forest, with Cooper knowing the player well from their time together with England’s U-17s and the midfielder’s time on loan at Swansea.
Gibbs-White has made 88 appearances for Wolves since coming through the academy
Taiwo Awoniyi (middle) celebrates with his new team-mates after scoring against West Ham
The fee agreed can certainly be described as an ‘eyebrow raiser’, with Cooper’s side splashing out nearly £50million on a player who was forced on loan the season before.
Having come through the club’s academy Gibbs-White broke into the Wolves first-team in 2016 as they established themselves as a Premier League side under Nuno Espírito Santo.
He was eventually shipped to Sheffield United on loan last year, where he shone. Gibbs-White contributed 12 goals and 10 assists in the Championship, as the Blades narrowly missed out on promotion.
Though he’s not being signed from a Championship club, the fee would exceed the most valuable signing ever from England’s second division which was Nathan Ake’s £40million move from Bournemouth to Man City in 2020.
The 22-year-old spent last season on loan with Sheffield United in the Championship
The signing proves to be another step forward for Forest, who are hoping to re-establish themselves as one of the top teams in the country.
Just last month, plans to expand Nottingham Forest’s City Ground were approved by councillors.
The club had been planning to redevelop the City Ground since 2091, but that process has now been accelerated having secured promotion to the Premier League.
The approved plans include the rebuilding of the Peter Taylor Stand to create 5,000 more seats as well as public space and parking – bringing their total capacity to 35,000.
Forest had plans to redevelop the City Ground approved after the club secured promotion
Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’s willingness to spend in the market is staggering, given the fact that the club have had significant financial losses compared to other Championship clubs for a number of years.
Just last season, Forest posted an operating loss of £34m in their latest financial results, which was reduced to £15.5m pre-tax. This is just over £2m more than they lost in the previous year when they posted a £31.9m loss – and they lost the same amount during 2018/19.
While club’s like Bournemouth and Sheffield United sold players or reduced wage bills to balance the books and end in a profit, Marinakis is happy to keep spending.
The club also recorded a wage bill of £37m that equated to £202 for every £100 of income.
The midfielder has represented England at multiple youth levels, from U16 through to the U21s
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