Manchester City have been working secretly in the background as they look to sign Morgan Gibbs-White, with a report revealing the state of play as Nottingham Forest brace themselves for a hugely damaging double exit.
Gibbs-White became Forest’s record signing in August 2022 when he moved to the City Ground from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a five-year contract. Forest paid an initial £25million for the attacking midfielder, though the deal had the potential to rise to £42.5m through add-ons.
It was a significant outlay for Forest at the time, but Gibbs-White has proven to be worth every penny.
He captained the club in the majority of their Premier League games last season, while also registering seven goals and 10 assists in 34 matches.
Gibbs-White played a crucial role in Forest competing for a Champions League spot, before they ultimately slipped down the table and qualified for the Europa Conference League instead.
However, it is unclear if the playmaker will stay at Forest to help them in their first European campaign in 30 years.
Football Insider claim new Man City director of football Hugo Viana has been ‘working behind the scenes’ on a deal for Gibbs-White in recent weeks.
That groundwork has resulted in an ‘agreement on personal terms’, with the four-cap England international having ‘made up his mind on joining Man City‘.
Pep Guardiola’s side have not struck an agreement with Forest yet but now look set to begin talks with their Premier League counterparts.
Forest are at risk of losing two of their most important attacking weapons, with Gibbs-White a top target for City and winger Anthony Elanga close to joining Newcastle United.
Newcastle have had a £55m bid for Elanga accepted. Forest do not want to lose the pair but are having to consider sales to ease financial pressure.
City have already brought in Rayan Cherki, but it seems they want another No 10 to help replace Kevin De Bruyne, with Gibbs-White in their sights.
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Morgan Gibbs-White, Matheus Nunes could swap clubs
TEAMtalk exclusively revealed on May 20 that Gibbs-White wants a transfer to City so he can take the next step in his career. The Cityzens were initially hoping to replace De Bruyne with Florian Wirtz but pivoted towards Cherki and Gibbs-White after deciding the new Liverpool man would be too expensive.
It emerged on May 25 that City could use Forest target Matheus Nunes as part of a deal for Gibbs-White to help bring down the cost of the operation.
If City were to sign the 25-year-old outright, with no kind of player-plus-cash deal, then he would likely cost £70m (€81m / $95m).
Sources informed us on June 5 that Chelsea were keen on signing both Gibbs-White and West Ham United’s Mohammed Kudus.
But Chelsea opted to bring in Joao Pedro from Brighton & Hove Albion instead, while Kudus is on the verge of joining Tottenham Hotspur.
Man City transfer news: Talks for two big names
Meanwhile, City have reportedly been contacted by the agents of a Real Madrid star and could provide Liverpool and Arsenal with competition for him.
City have also begun talks for the signing of a Champions League finalist from Inter Milan, reports claim.
While you can see every completed City transfer from this summer here.
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