A bid from Manchester City for a star player from another Premier League club could reportedly be “hard to turn down” given the ending to their season.
City will see Kevin De Bruyne walk away for free at the end of the season. The six-time Premier League winner was not offered a new deal, so he will be free to move to another club for next season.
Though it was City’s choice not to give him an extension, De Bruyne – the man with the second-most assists in Premier League history – will be a big loss.
Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White is one of the names being looked at to replace him, and if Forest don’t get Champions League football – with Aston Villa occupying the last UCL spot and City between the two clubs – insider Pete O’Rourke feels a sale is distinctly possible.
“They’re not going to be where they want to be. If they’re not in the Champions League, holding on to players is going to be difficult,” he told Football Insider.
“Gibbs-White has been key for them. He’s been linked to Manchester City and even if they do get Champions League football, he’s still being linked. FFP and PSR, as we know, play a big part in the daily talk at Nottingham Forest.
“If somebody comes in with a big bid and they’re not in the Champions League, they may find it hard to turn down, it’s going to be difficult.
“They’ve got an owner who’s very, very willing to compete at the top level but it’s taken them a few windows and points deductions to get where they want to be.
“They’ve got to toe the line with FFP and PSR rules and Gibbs-White may just fall foul of that.”
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City plotting huge swoop
That could see the first part of a massive swoop taken care of, then.
Indeed, TEAMtalk is aware that alongside Gibbs-White, Florian Wirtz and Tijjani Reijnders are also being eyed.
If City were able to get all three, there’s a good chance they probably would do so.
A move for Wirtz does look tricky, though, with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich both heavily contesting the Citizens’ transfer. But if they can get the other two, City will class that as a job well done.
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