Gibbs-White absent from Nottingham Forest trip to Portugal as reasons now shared
Morgan Gibbs-White did not travel with Nottingham Forest to Portugal amid links to Tottenham.
Daniel Levy thought Gibbs-White was more or less a Tottenham player when he reportedly agreed to personal terms earlier this month.
However, Forest hit the brakes on the transfer after accusing the London club of illegally tapping up their player. The transfer has since been on hold with the Midlands outfit determined not to sell to Spurs.
But Levy is nothing if not persistent and has remained confident that Gibbs-White will grace Hotspur Way this summer.
Gibbs-White absent from Forest trip due to personal reasons
As reported by John Percy on Monday (21 July), Gibbs-White has not travelled with the rest of the Forest squad to Portugal. However, this is due to a personal matter unrelated to football, and he is to join the team later during the week.
The prospect of the midfielder joining Forest for the rest of their pre-season will come as a blow for Tottenham, who would have wanted to close his transfer beforehand.
| Appearances | Goals | Assists | Minutes |
| 266 | 36 | 45 | 17.758′ |
Indeed, Gibbs-White was all smiles when he started for Forest during their goalless pre-season game against Monaco on Saturday (19 July). And while the Englishman is a professional, the lack of pushback could be a worrying sign for Spurs.
Tottenham should move onto other targets
There is no doubt that Tottenham should keep pushing for Gibbs-White until the end of the summer window. He is an excellent player and would take the team to the next level.
However, Forest are clearly unwilling to sell – at least to Spurs – and the Lilywhites cannot afford to put all their effort into signing Gibbs-White. The last thing Tottenham fans will want is to miss out on bigger, better market opportunities because Levy put all of his eggs in one basket.
As a result, Spurs should be looking at working on other targets alongside Gibbs-White. This includes a striker who should be one of the club’s priorities, with Richarlison potentially set to leave this summer.
Therefore, to put Thomas Frank in the best possible position to win big during his first season, Tottenham need to get more active in the market.
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