During the summer, Everton were heavily linked with a move for Wolves midfielder, Morgan Gibbs-White and had reportedly made a bid in excess of £25 million for the Englishman, as reported by VitalEverton earlier in the window, but newly promoted Nottingham Forest saved them from making a ‘massive transfer mistake’.
Gibbs-White signed for Nottingham Forest in the summer from Wolves for £26.5 million [via transfermarkt]. His ‘big money move’ came about after a very successful season in the championship with Sheffield United, where he netted 11 goals and got a further 9 assists, helping his side reach the playoffs, only to be knocked out by Nottingham Forest over the two legs.
Prior to his move to Nottingham, he had played over 60 games in the Premier League, only managing a single goal in that time. Despite having a successful loan in the championship the season before, bids of around £25 million from the likes of Everton and Nottingham Forest certainly raised a few eyebrows. But there was still optimism that the midfielder could still turn out the be a success in the Premier League, having room to develop at only 22 years of age and since his performances during pre-season for Wolves were very high quality.
However, the hype around his transfer diminished quite quickly. The Englishman has played all 9 games for Forest this season, failing to score a goal and only managing two assists in that time, also. At the time of writing, his side sits bottom of the Premier League on goal difference, only winning one game and drawing two, whilst also losing to rivals, Leicester City 4-0 at the King Power, moving them above Forest on goal difference.
Everton made a late bid for the 22-year-old just days before his move to Forest, trying to prize him away from the move. With Lampard obviously really liking him and with Kevin Thelwell’s close link to Wolves, a deal always looked like it could have happened, but considering how he has performed this season and Everton are already tied up by Financial Fair Play, £25 million being spent on a player who would who may have not even got into the starting line-up and had only had success in the Championship seems a bit steep.
It can now probably be seen as a blessing in disguise that the deal eventually did not materialise, but it is clear that Everton do need attacking reinforcements in January, highlighted by today’s lackluster defeat to Tottenham.
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