According to The Athletic, Crystal Palace and Everton target Morgan Gibbs-White is close to joining Nottingham Forest.
What’s the story?
Well, this is an astonishing story, given the amount of money involved.
The Athletic believe Nottingham Forest and Wolves have agreed a deal worth £45m for Gibbs-White, representing a club-record signing for the Premier League newcomers, and a club-record sale for the Old Gold.
It comes after Everton made a £20m bid for the England Under-21 international.
Crystal Palace also wanted to sign Gibbs-White, and were confident of striking an agreement at one stage.
However, Frank Lampard and and Patrick Vieira will now have to look elsewhere, as Steve Cooper closes in on a player he has tracked all summer.
Interestingly, The Athletic add that the chance to work with the Welshman was a major factor in Gibbs-White’s decision.
It comes after Wolves completed the club-record signing of Matheus Nunes in a £38m deal, a move which will now see those at Molineux find themselves £7m up in profit.
The 22-year-old inflated his value after shining on loan at Sheffield United last season, scoring 13 goals while also providing ten assists in 40 appearances.
Gibbs-White has scored one goal and claimed one assist in 48 Premier League appearances.
Crystal Palace & Everton shouldn’t worry
In our view, the Eagles and the Toffees shouldn’t be too upset about missing out on Gibbs-White, purely due to the finances involved.
The Stafford-born midfielder is an excellent footballer, but for £45m, there is so much more out there in Europe.
For example, Erling Haaland only cost Manchester City £6m more than that sum, having struck a £51m deal.
To go even further, Liverpool signed a gem in Fabio Carvalho for just £5m at the start of the summer, so with a bit of thinking, Crystal Palace and Everton can surely find themselves alternatives to Gibbs-White.
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