Did Nottingham Forest just ruin their Transfer Business?
By Jim James
According to the Messiah of transfers, Fabrizio Romano, Nottingham Forest are closing in on a deal for Morgan Gibbs-White. No big deal, right? Usually, I would agree, a deal that has happened 3 dozen other times in the window so far, I wouldn’t make a whole post about it. This one is different. In my opinion, if it happens, this will be the worst transfer of the window so far (Real Madrid’s Guimares pursuit could topple it), and here’s some reasons why.
Reason 1: Better Alternatives
Here is a list of players who Nottingham Forest have been linked to this window who play in centre-midfield:
Houssem Aouar
James Garner
Djibril Sow
Aster Vranckx
Ibrahim Sangare
Boubacar Traore
Agibou Camara
They’ve also signed Cheikou Kouyate, Jesse Lingard, Remo Freuler, Orel Mangala, and Lewis O’Brien to go along with other midfielders like Cafu (not that one), Jack Colback, Ryan Yates, and Harry Arter. They have good depth in midfield, with a promotion-level side quality midfield 3, why do they need another. Gibbs-White would come off the bench. Even if they wanted another midfielder, Aouar is right there at a much cheaper price (we’ll get to that later), and even if they didn’t get him, there are so many others they can get. Djibril Sow, Aibou Camara, Ibrahim Sangare, and Aster Vranckx are all more shrewd buys than Gibbs-White, a buy which is just unimaginative and dull.
Reason 2: Way too Expensive
According to pretty much every source, the Morgan Gibbs-White deal could go up to 44-45 million pounds, or 52 million Euros. WHAT. This is Morgan Gibbs-White. He would tie with Kyle Walker as the 83rd most expensive player of all time. He would be tied for the 9th most expensive English player of all time. The fee would nearly quintuple his market value on transfermarkt. All this from a player with 4 goal contributions in 88 Wolves appearances. Morgan Gibbs-White to Forest is now more expensive than:
Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona (45m)
Sadio Mane to Bayern (35m)
Rio Ferdinand to Man Utd (46m)
Fabinho to Liverpool (45m)
Ronaldo Nazario to Real Madrid (45m)
Mo Salah to Liverpool (42m)
Sergio Aguero to Man City (40m)
N’Golo Kante to Chelsea (35m)
Dani Alves to Barcelona (2008) (35m)
The last sub-reason on the fee is that other target Houssem Aouar would only be 12 million pounds (15 million euros) and Forest are refusing to pay it. Wow.
That is why Nottingham Forest have ruined an otherwise great window by making this poor, poor decision. Come back to this in 2 years – see if I’m right. I’m Jim James, until next time.