Tottenham: Lange eyeing “genius” £22.5m attacker move after Gibbs-White blow
Tottenham have set their sights on another quality attacking midfielder after seeing Nottingham Forest playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White commit his future to the City Ground.
Thomas Frank’s side are arguably in dire need of more creativity. The Lilywhites struggled to break down League One outfit Luton Town in the second of their two Saturday pre-season friendlies last weekend, despite fielding a strong side loaded with key first-team players.
While it’s important not to overanalyse summer preparations for the new Premier League season, with Frank’s players regaining match fitness and sharpness right now, the signs were not overly encouraging.
| Tottenham’s best-performing regulars in the Premier League – 2024/2025 | Average match rating |
|---|---|
| Son Heung-min | 7.00 |
| James Maddison | 6.98 |
| Pedro Porro | 6.95 |
| Dominic Solanke | 6.84 |
| Dejan Kulusevski | 6.83 |
| via WhoScored | |
In an ideal world, Tottenham would have welcomed new playmaker Gibbs-White to N17 by now, having scheduled a medical on July 11 whilst attempting to trigger his past £60 million release clause.
However, in what was an unprecedented turn of events, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis put a halt to the transfer, threatened legal action against Spurs and somehow convinced Gibbs-White to pen a contract extension instead.
Signing the 25-year-old was Tottenham’s priority for the previous fortnight, but those precious two weeks of the transfer window were seemingly wasted. Technical director Johan Lange and his recruitment team must now turn to different attacking targets, with Fabrizio Romano confirming that Tottenham are working on signing alternatives to Gibbs-White.
Despite serious links to north London rivals Arsenal, Spurs have been targeting Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze this window, and whilst Mikel Arteta’s side prioritise outgoings right now (Fabrizio Romano), perhaps Lange can use this time to beat the Gunners to his signature.
Eze would be a phenomenal alternative to Gibbs-White, following his campaign of 14 goals and 11 assists in all competitions at Palace, including their FA Cup-final winning strike against Man City.
However, in the event Arsenal beat Spurs to Eze, there are other viable candidates for the number 10 role at Tottenham.
Tottenham eyeing Leicester City playmaker Bilal El Khannouss
According to TBR Football and journalist Graeme Bailey, one of them is Leicester City star Bilal El Khannouss.
The 21-year-old was a shining light in an otherwise dismal Foxes side who were relegated right back down to the Championship last term, averaging more key passes per 90 in the final third than any of his teammates in the top flight (WhoScored).
Bailey reports that Spurs are now targeting El Khannouss, coming after they unceremoniously missed out on a deal for Gibbs-White and reports that the Morocco international’s contract includes a £22.5 million release clause (talkSPORT).
The clause was tied in with Leicester’s drop to the second tier, and means the young El Khannouss is available for a very astute fee.
Members of the media, like journalist Antonio Mango, have heralded the African as a “genius” attacking player, with El Khannouss now emerging as a very intriguing option for Lange as we enter the final few weeks of the summer.
Fabrizio Romano drops hint on how Tottenham can avenge Morgan GIbbs-White snub
Tottenham Hotspur fans were overjoyed when they heard that their beloved club were being ambitious for a change and signing Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White just hours after inking West Ham’s high-risk, high-reward right winger Mohammed Kudus. Together, Gibbs-White and Kudus could have transformed a Tottenham attack that could only help the team finish 17th in the Premier League last season.
But instead of signing MGW, Nottingham Forest dug their heels in, blocked Spurs from the move, even threatened legal action, and eventually somehow convinced Gibbs-White to renege on his word to Tottenham and sign a contract extension with Forest out of the blue
Needless to say, Tottenham fans aren’t happy at all with how that deal went down, and while some of that anger is directed internally at Daniel Levy and what looks to be another potentially bleak summer of transfer business – in juxtaposition to the activity of London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea – most of it is directed outwardly towards an increasingly maligned Nottingham Forest.
Well, Tottenham have a chance to replace Gibbs-White with a cheaper, young, and potentially even better attacking midfielder on the transfer market. Better yet, if they sign this player, it would be an act of revenge on Forest for the way the Gibbs-White transfer went down (in flames).
Tottenham could sign him for half the price of Gibbs-White
According to a report from Fabrizio Romano, despite signing Morgan Gibbs-White to a fresh contract extension, Nottingham Forest continue to show interest in Manchester City attacking midfield prospect James McAtee, who is quietly one of the best young players openly on the Premier League transfer market this summer.
Per Romano, Forest actually sent a 25 million pound transfer bid across Man City’s desk, but the Citizens rejected the offer. That means McAtee is still on the open waters, and it’s worth noting that Tottenham showed interest in the 22-year-old standout earlier in the tranfer window before focusing their efforts on Gibbs-White.
And what makes this all the more interesting is that initial reporting during the peak of the Gibbs-White transfer saga indicated that Forest were interested in using Gibbs-White as part of a swap deal to acquire McAtee. So if Tottenham were to sign MGW per his release clause, they would lose an important makeweight in signing McAtee.
Tottenham could instead be the ones to sign McAtee with a more competitive offer than 25 million pounds. For about half the price of Gibbs-White, Tottenham could sign someone a few years younger with more upside and use McAtee as an understudy to James Maddison in the 10 role before letting him loose in the future.
