Everton are confident about beating Premier League rivals Crystal Palace and Southampton to Morgan Gibbs-White due to the presence of Kevin Thelwell at Goodison Park, as reported by The Athletic.
They do say it’s not ‘what you know’ but ‘who you know’.
And that old cliché could ring true as Everton step up their pursuit of a midfielder who’s 12 goals, 10 assists and bucketload of Man of the Match awards on loan at Sheffield United have made him one of England’s most coveted, homegrown talents.
Why Wolverhampton Wanderers appear so willing to cash in on Gibbs-White remains a mystery. Only three teams in the Premier League scored fewer goals than Bruno Lage’s toothless Wolves in 2021/22, after all. And all three ended up in the relegation zone.
Gibbs-White would, in theory, provide some much-needed guile and thrust to an often plodding frontline. According to the Express and Star, however, Lage would prefer to bring in an outside hire. One that would likely block Gibbs-White’s route into the first-team picture.
Will Wolves sell Morgan Gibbs-White to Everton?
But if Wolves aren’t going to give the England U21 international a top-flight chance, Everton certainly will.
Crystal Palace and Southampton are also fans of Gibbs-White. But The Athletic say that Everton are quietly confident, in the knowledge that director Thelwell and academy chief Gareth Prosser – both formerly of Wolves – have an excellent relationship with a player who’s Premier League emergence has been a long time in coming.
“He’s a top talent,” Thelwell told the Shropshire Star of the Stafford-born dynamo a couple of years ago. “(He is) going to be a fantastic player.”
Wolves reportedly want £30 million for Gibbs-White. A staggering sum for a young player with just 10 Premier League starts to his name. Then again, that is the going rate for talented, up-and-coming English footballers these days. Everton would not just be signing a lavishly gifted young footballer with an eye for goal, but a player capable of solving the club’s attacking midfield problems for years to come.
Southampton may have dropped out of the race after landing Rangers’ Joe Aribo.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
