If we have learned one thing about football over the years, it is that there is never a dull moment, even during the off season. This week has proven to be no different.
On Thursday evening, multiple high level reports suggested that Morgan Gibbs-White was set to leave Nottingham Forest for Spurs, after they had activated his £60m release clause that very few people knew about.
Well, quite. The clause has been labelled as “secret”, and Forest believe that Spurs’ process of obtaining and activating said clause is “illegal” and that they will be taking action, with the deal said to currently be off.
Many people within the Forest fanbase had already washed their hands with Gibbs-White before this twist had been reported. The 25-year old has said how happy he was at the Midlands outfit, and stated there was no other place he’d rather be playing football.
You only have to go back to last month to see how much they had previously adored the attacking midfielder. When England played Senegal in a friendly at Forest’s City Ground home, fans displayed their fume at Gibbs-White not starting the game, with the biggest cheer of the night coming when he replaced Anthony Gordon just before the hour mark.
Therefore, you can see why they feel so frustrated to not have that sort of loyalty and love repaid by the player. There is an anger that he would join a club that finished 10 places below Forest last season – even if they are playing Champions League football.
Some have suggested that Forest deleted their new kit announcement trailer because the England international was heavily involved. Fans have also said that they sanctioned the sale of Anthony Elanga to Newcastle United because they were expecting Gibbs-White to remain at the club.
It feels weird that a player signed for around £40m (much to people’s shock at the time) would have a release clause of just £60m. The term “secret release clause” feels weird too. You would feel the player would not agree to it if he was under the impression nobody outside of the club was allowed to be aware of it. But ah well, here we are.
You would imagine a deal for the player to join Spurs will still go through. As touched on a few times, Forest seem shocked by all of this, and as a result are probably very unhappy with the player, so bridges seem burnt there. The likelihood is that, out of pettiness, Evangelos Marinakis will just try and make it as inconvenient as possible for Spurs.
