Nottingham Forest's incredible £100million spending spree looks set to continue as they target Morgan Gibbs-White.
Forest boss Steve Cooper made Jesse Lingard the Reds' 10th signing of the summer transfer window but the club are not stopping there as they look to assemble as squad capable of staying in the Premier League with a £12.7m deal for Stuttgart’s Belgium midfielder Orel Mangala also close to being announced.
Now Forest are also trying to prise highly-rated Wolves ace Gibbs-White out of Molineux. Cooper used to work with Gibbs-White, 22, with England U17s who won the World Cup with the Wolves youngster scoring in the final.
He also previously signed him on loan for Swansea in 2020 when in charge of the Welsh club. And has since followed the star’s progress closely including last term when he was loaned to Sheffield United in the Championship. Gibbs-White played a starring role as the Blades reached the play-offs in the Championship, scoring 10 goals and producing 12 assists in 37 appearances.
Wolves are trying to tie Gibbs-White to a new long-term deal at Molineux but the star is open to linking up with Cooper again for regular first team football in the Premier League. Forest, who are set to hand Lingard a debut against Valencia at the weekend, are determined to mount a big push to establish themselves in the top-flight again and are drawing up a big new bonus scheme to incentivise Premier League survival after paying out £12m to their squad for promotion.
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Forest reached the top-flight in May via the play-offs with a brilliant run after Cooper arrived last September. It thrilled the club’s Greek owner Evangelos Marinakis who had targeted promotion since buying the club in 2017. He had been desperate to get Forest into the Premier League and sanctioned big bonuses to inspire his players. It meant Forest’s stars were well rewarded when they finally got the club back in the top-flight for the first time since 1999.
A £12m bonus pool was split between the squad depending on their appearances. Stars like Brice Samba, Brennan Johnson, Scott McKenna, Ryan Yates , Joe Worrall and Djed Spence , who all played almost 40 games or more, pocketed £300,000 each on top of their basic salaries. But Marinakis was able to easily afford the payments after a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield at Wembley clinched promotion and a £170m windfall.
