Six points from eight Premier League matches have put Morgan Gibbs-White’s long-term future at the City Ground back in doubt. Nottingham Forest sit 18th and the 26-year-old England midfielder, who signed a record contract only 15 months ago, is now being tipped by one well-connected insider to force the door open at the end of the season.
Mick Brown, formerly chief scout at Manchester United, told Football Insider on Tuesday that the midfielder is unlikely to settle for another year on the margins of European football.
“Gibbs-White is a top player who will want to be playing at the highest level possible,” Brown said. “He’s played in Europe, he’s played for England, and he will be determined to continue playing at the top level for club and country, and I’m not sure he’ll do that at Forest.”
Football Insider sources add that Gibbs-White is “desperate” to play Champions League football at this stage of his career. No specific destination club has been confirmed, and any move is being targeted for next summer rather than the January window.
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A record contract that may not be enough
Forest built their defence of Gibbs-White around a three-year deal signed in July 2025 after Tottenham had already triggered a release clause in his previous contract. Goal reported at the time that the extension runs through to summer 2028 and makes him the highest-earning player in the club’s history.
Gibbs-White himself backed the project under owner Evangelos Marinakis when he signed.
“I believe in what we’re building here, with the backing of Mr Marinakis and the enormous ambition he has, I want to be part of making something special,” he said at the time.
Fifteen months on, “something special” looks a long way off. Oliver Glasner, who took the Forest job in July 2026 after leaving Crystal Palace, has won just one of his first nine competitive games in charge, according to the same Football Insider report. Forest survived a relegation fight last season.
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Arsenal, PSG and four Premier League rivals
Brown has previously linked the England international with a long list of possible suitors. Earlier Football Insider reporting from June placed Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain in the picture, with the club said to prefer selling abroad over strengthening a domestic rival.
In the latest piece, Brown adds Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham to the list of clubs that could realistically move for Gibbs-White if Forest’s form does not improve. None of these clubs has made a public approach, and all of this remains at the level of one scout’s reading of the market.
Forest travel to Brentford on 31 October.
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