Nottingham Forest agree to pay incredible £44.5m fee for Wolves star Gibbs-White

Joe Williams
Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White and Fulham's Mitovic come to blows

Nottingham Forest have agreed to pay Wolves £44.5m for midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, according to The Athletic journalist David Ornstein.

The newly-promoted side have invested heavily on their squad already this summer, signing 15 players so far, with more to come.

Jesse Lingard, Dean Henderson, Orel Mangala and Emmanuel Dennis are among the new faces but Wolves midfielder Gibbs-White will be by far their most expensive purchase this summer.


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The attacking midfielder had a brilliant season-long loan spell at Championship side Sheffield United last season which saw them narrowly miss out on promotion to the Premier League.

Nottingham Forest beat the Blades in the play-off semi-finals on their way to the Premier League and now they are looking to bring Gibbs-White – who contributed 12 goals and ten assists for Paul Heckingbottom’s men last term –  to the City Ground.

And now Ornstein, writing in The Athletic, claims Nottingham Forest have ‘agreed a deal to sign’ Gibbs-White this summer ‘for a fee believed to be £44.5m including add-ons’.

Wolves had rejected their last £35m offer made up of £25m up front plus £10m in add-ons but the England under-21 international will now ‘undergo a medical with Forest this afternoon’.

He will become the club’s 16th summer signing after Forest ‘remained determined all summer to land’ him and were always ‘keen to make him a key figure in their squad’.

On the fee, Daily Telegraph journalist John Percy claims it is slightly different, he claims: ‘The deal has cost the promoted club £25m up front ,with add-ons that are likely to cost a further £7-10m, up to a maximum of £42.5m.’

Gibbs-White was offered a new deal by Wolves but their boss Bruno Lage admitted that they wouldn’t allow him to leave on a free if he refused their offer.

“I want him, but we need to understand that one thing is what I want and the other thing is the question of the market,” Lage said last week. “We cannot have players that go until the end of their contract like Adama (Traore). He is very happy and will play for us, but in one year he is free.

“I also need to understand that part from the club and the fans need to understand it too. If we keep the players and then they go and we have nothing to replace. We are trying to do our best. I want to keep all the players with me, but in the end we need to find the right balance.

“Morgan is a player that in two or three years can be one of the best players in the country. Wolves want to keep him and he wants to play for Wolves, now we need to find the best deal and the club has time to talk with him.

“I’ve already spoken with him and lets hope we finalise the situation.”