Morgan Gibbs-White was already planning for life as a Nottingham Forest player even before his club record transfer had been agreed.
That is according to broadcaster Darren Fletcher, who says Gibbs-White was a driving force behind the initial £25m move to Forest after their promotion to the Premier League.
The England Under-21 international began the season with Wolves, starting their first two games, but his head had been turned by a desire to be reunited with Steve Cooper, his old boss at Under-17 international level who was desperate to build the attack around him.
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Gibbs-White got his wish and rewarded with Cooper with five goals and seven assists in 35 Premier League games so far. With Premier League survival secured, Fletcher told the Garibaldi Red podcast the extent to which the 23-year-old wanted to come to the City Ground.
"As the season has gone on he's got better and better at maximising the situation he's in. Confidence has grown and he goes into next season mentally in a strong position as a Premier League player," he said.
"If that's his starting position then it's really promising where he can be from Christmas and beyond. It's really encouraging.
"He's got an infectious enthusiasm for the game. If he's going to take a throw in he runs to get the ball. He wants to play. Sometimes you have a player in his position who only wants to play when they have the ball.
"He wants to play without the ball too. He's a really nice fella and he's got levels that he can go to next season and beyond. I think he'll add more goals.
"He cares. Last summer when there was speculation about if he was coming, he was the one constantly on the phone to Steve Cooper saying we've got to get it done.
"All he wanted to do was sign. At that point, even while they couldn't agree fees he was house hunting. In his mind he'd joined the club before a deal was done. He was invested from the start. That's why you get the performances you've seen from Morgan."
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