Nottingham Forest's remarkable Morgan Gibbs-White tactic to block Tottenham transfer

Nottingham Forest are so unhappy with Tottenham's approach for Morgan Gibbs-White that they would rather sell him to a rival than let him join Spurs. Tottenham thought they were set to sign the England international after matching his £60million release clause earlier this month.

However, Forest reacted furiously and accused Spurs of making an illegal approach for Gibbs-White, writing a letter of complaint to both Tottenham and the Premier League. The deal has stalled as a result and Gibbs-White's future remains up in the air.

According to a new report from the Daily Mail, Forest would prefer to 'sell to him to a rival club' instead of Spurs. The report states that Forest were open to letting Gibbs-White leave as he was 'resisting' the club's attempts to get him to sign a new deal.

However, they have been left 'unhappy with how Spurs handled their approach' and it remains to be seen whether any other clubs will make a move for the 25-year-old. Manchester City were interested in Gibbs-White earlier this summer, but they ended up signing Rayan Cherki from Lyon instead.

A separate report from talkSPORT claims that Gibbs-White informed Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis that he would 'only leave the City Ground for a certain level of club' and the Greek businessman does not believe that Spurs are in that category.

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READ MORE: Morgan Gibbs-White transfer: Tottenham issue remains after Nottingham Forest's response

The report adds that Tottenham could still resurrect the deal, but Gibbs-White did return to action for Forest in their pre-season friendly against Monaco on Saturday. He has not travelled with the squad for their pre-season tour of Portugal due to a "personal matter".

Forest, meanwhile, are among a host of clubs weighing up a move for James McAtee, who captained England to victory at the Under-21 Euros last month. West Ham, Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt are also said to be interested in the 22-year-old.

McAtee featured 27 times across all competitions for City last season but just nine of those were starts and, with his contract due to expire in 2026, manager Pep Guardiola has admitted the player is likely to leave the Etihad this summer.

"I didn't allow him to play minutes so I cannot ask anything from the players who don't play a lot of minutes," Guardiola said in April. "They could do better? No. Macca has this quality, the ability to create.

"He is there. The game worked better against Palace, you create chances. Macca close to the box is quite similar to Phil. They are there, a sense. It's difficult to train, to make that movement because the ball is coming. If he plays minutes he will score.

"For the age, I'd like him to stay. But I understand the players want more minutes. I would like him to stay, he's a player for the academy, he knows the patterns. He's a lovely person and trained really good. He can play different positions but I don't know how the squad will be and we will see."

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