Will Morgan Gibbs-White join Tottenham? Shock Nottingham Forest transfer ‘likely’ for 26-year-old – Football Whispers Index score

Tottenham Hotspur have not given up on Morgan Gibbs-White.

Spurs tried to sign the Nottingham Forest midfielder in July 2025 by triggering a reported £60m release clause, only for the move to collapse and for Gibbs-White to sign a new three-year Forest contract instead.

More than a year on, reports now suggest Tottenham are preparing a fresh approach for the January 2027 window, even as an injury crisis reshapes their own need for him.

Morgan Gibbs-White to Tottenham rated ‘Likely'

The Football Whispers Index scores every transfer rumour across five weighted factors. Read how it works here.

The Football Whispers Index weighs five factors: whether Tottenham can afford the deal, whether they actually need Gibbs-White, whether he would want the move, whether Forest have a reason to sell, and how strongly the story is being reported.

The clearest point in this deal's favour is Tottenham's threadbare options in the number 10 area, with three senior alternatives sidelined by injury for most of this year.

The clearest point against it is Forest's own stance, since they have shown no willingness to sell and are already planning to extend him again.

Financial viability

Money is unlikely to be the obstacle here.

Tottenham have already spent more than £300m this summer on Omar Marmoush and Mohammed Kudus alone, showing they can move at this level when they choose to.

Gibbs-White's €70m Transfermarkt valuation sits close to the £60m release clause Tottenham triggered for him in 2025, so there is a recent, real-world price anchor for any renewed talks.

The bigger financial complication is his current wage, since a move that does not more than double his £110,000 a week at Forest would be an unusual downgrade for a player Tottenham are supposedly determined to land.

Buying club need

This is where the case for the move is actually built.

Xavi Simons has not played since rupturing his ACL against Wolves in April 2026, and Tottenham do not expect him back before early 2027.

Dejan Kulusevski has not featured competitively since May 2025, and was still absent from the matchday squad as recently as 14 September 2026, more than 16 months into his recovery.

With Maddison only just back from his own injury, De Zerbi has had to ask Gallagher and Fernandes, neither of them a natural attacking midfielder, to fill a role that would otherwise sit empty.

Player motivation

Gibbs-White's own situation complicates the picture.

He is already an ever-present starter at Forest, having started 35 of his 37 appearances in 2025-26, so a move to Tottenham would not obviously hand him more certain football than he already has.

His comments on signing his last Forest contract, that he felt at home and wanted to be part of what the club was building, remain the most recent public word from him on the subject, and they point toward staying rather than leaving.

A goal and two assists in his first four games of this season suggest a player in form wherever he plays next, which cuts both ways for Forest and any suitor.

Selling club incentive

Forest give Tottenham almost nothing to work with here.

Marinakis's description of Gibbs-White as a player the club was built around, delivered when he signed in 2025, is now backed up by fresh reporting that Forest are preparing another extension rather than a sale.

Selling Elliot Anderson to Manchester City this year has already eased whatever financial pressure Forest were under, cutting any incentive to also cash in on Gibbs-White.

With two years left on his contract, Forest are also under no pressure of a looming free transfer that might otherwise force their hand.

Market momentum

The reporting behind this rumour is real but thin.

TeamTalk's report on 15 September 2026 is the only genuine source behind the renewed interest, repeated rather than independently confirmed by the outlets that picked it up.

Nothing here approaches the scale of the 2025 saga, when Tottenham actually triggered a release clause and booked a medical before the deal fell apart.

Until a concrete bid materialises or a bigger name attaches themselves to the story, this stays speculation about a window still four months away.

Morgan Gibbs-White to Tottenham: Will or won't it happen?

The number sits in Possible because Tottenham's need is real even if their intent is still unconfirmed.

Watch the injury list before the transfer pages, since Kulusevski or Maddison returning to full fitness would do more to end this story than anything Forest say publicly.

A concrete Tottenham bid in January would be the clearest sign this has become more than a want, and not just a need.