Leeds United's Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest are considering legal action against Tottenham Hotspur over an alleged illegal approach for Morgan Gibbs-White.
Spurs had planned to activate a £60million release clause for the 25-year-old England international, with a medical scheduled for Friday. However, the transfer has now hit a snag as Forest have reportedly ceased communications with Tottenham, believing that they did not grant permission for the North London club to approach Gibbs-White, despite the existence of the release clause.
Forest also reportedly believe that the confidentiality of the release clause has been violated, as Spurs' bid for Gibbs-White matched the exact amount required.
According to football.london, Tottenham still wish to go ahead with the deal, but Forest are thought to be preparing a complaint to the Premier League, which could potentially delay any move.
At this stage, it's unclear whether Forest could completely block the transfer, but there is a sense within the Midlands club that they may be unable to prevent the transfer if Spurs follow the correct procedures, reports Football London.
Newly appointed Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank identified Gibbs-White as the ideal number 10 for his system during his tenure at Brentford. He also saw potential in the player's ability to operate in a deeper midfield role or on the wing if necessary.
Frank's right-hand man, Justin Cochrane, has previously worked with Gibbs-White in the England set-up and will now continue this partnership at Spurs.
If they manage to finalise the deal for the versatile midfielder, it will round off a £120million transfer trio at the club. This follows Spurs' successful £55million acquisition of West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus and the earlier £5million signing of Japanese international centre-back Kota Takai from Kawasaki Frontale.
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