On Saturday evening it was confirmed that Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White had signed a one year extension to his existing contract to keep him at the City Ground until 2028.
This was despite Spurs activating a £60m release clause in his previous contract – with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis deeming the approach from the North London side “illegal” and putting his foot down.
That was on the 11th July – the day Gibbs-White was penned in to have his Spurs medical. Fast forward just 15 days and his new contract at Forest is official. A very turbulent two weeks.
As you’d expect, Spurs are being mocked and laughed at by various supporters, particularly Forest fans. However, this is far from the end of the world for Thomas Frank’s side.
Coming into this season, Spurs already had James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski at the club. Two attacking midfielders last season who largely played well last season before injuries played a part. They were particularly efficient as double number eights towards the start of the campaign.
Then, they signed Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United. The Ghanian is a versatile player, but has played a lot of his best football as a number ten. So there you have three very serviceable players in the attacking midfield role.
Elsewhere, you also have Lucas Bergvall and Brennan Johnson who have experience playing in that position – ironically a former Forest player included there.
So, you ask yourself – was there a need to spend 60 million on Gibbs-White? He is a fine player in his own right, no doubt about that, but was he needed? Would he have even been first choice?
Spurs are in desperate need of a number six, and some cover at left-back. If that 60 million is spent on those two positions instead, they will comfortably be better off than had they just signed Gibbs-White instead.
The players in those two positions will almost certainly be less flashy names than the Forest midfielder, but they will quite possibly be more important – depending on who comes in.
Spurs fans are pretty emotional about this at the moment, but once the dust settles they will see that they need players in other positions and roles more than Gibbs-White. Let’s see how they now respond in the transfer market.
