Why Gibbs-White will be elated if Nottingham Forest seal £50m transfer

There is an air of optimism about the City Ground this summer. Nottingham Forest fans are excited to see what the future holds under Oliver Glasner, even following Elliot Anderson’s £116m sale to Manchester City.

Forest are about to embark on their fifth successive campaign in the Premier League after climbing out of the Championship under Steve Cooper, and while last year tempered expectations, the fact that they rose to the Europa League speaks volumes of this club’s potential.

In Glasner, the Tricky Trees have landed a talented and proven coach. He won the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt before questing over to England and guiding Crystal Palace through their golden era.

Without Anderson, it will be difficult for Forest to emulate those feats – but far from impossible. Others will need to step up, but in Morgan Gibbs-White, Nottingham Forest have the perfect talisman.

Why Gibbs-White is Forest’s new talisman

Last season, Gibbs-White grew into his skin as Nottingham Forest’s star attacking midfielder. In fact, he is now recognised as one of the finest in the Premier League, developing into quite the goalscorer across 2026.

Vitor Pereira’s short but sweet reign saw Gibbs-White deepen into his focal role. “He has a lot of talent in his pocket, a lot of team spirit and character, and he leads the team,” the Portuguese manager said.

It’s not just goals which support the 26-year-old in his development, though. He is one of the most effective aerial duellers in the Premier League, and he completed 81% of his passes in the Premier League last season despite seeking out plenty of ranged deliveries.

Glasner will surely work Gibbs-White up to an even more focal role next season, but if he is to reach the next level, the playmaking Englishman will need a more reliable centre-forward in front of him.

Nottingham Forest leading race to sign Premier League striker

Chris Wood is getting old, spent a lot of time in the medical room last season. Igor Jesus is talented, but yet to prove himself as a high-level Premier League goalscorer.

With that in mind, Nottingham Forest could pounce on Chelsea’s Liam Delap, with The i Paper revealing that Chelsea have placed a £50m price tag on their failed striker, who they signed from Ipswich Town for £30m one year ago.

Alongside Everton and Leeds United, Forest are showing the strongest interest in the 23-year-old, who may only have scored once in the Premier League last season, but has demonstrable qualities that would serve Forest well, having scored 12 times across 32 matches for relegated Ipswich the year before, hailed as a “wrecking ball” in attack by Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones.

Delap is a powerful forward with deceptive speed. Even though he struggled for Chelsea last year, he completed 77% of his dribbles, placing him in the top 4% of attackers for that metric. His direct, high-intensity style aligns perfectly with the vertical, transitional style of Glasner.

Delap is still a work in progress. He probably made a bad career move in heading to Stamford Bridge last season, but that can be remedied through moving to Nottingham and building a partnership with the likes of Gibbs-White.

Gibbs-White, for sure, is one of the cleanest playmakers in the Premier League. Perhaps his dipped creative levels last season were a product of his rework into a chief goalscorer. In the absence of free-firing strikers, it was needed.

But Delap proved with Ipswich that he can serve effectively as a focal frontman. Latching onto Gibbs-White’s spirit and barging past defenders, into space, Delap could indeed establish himself as a first-class forward in the Premier League, putting the frustration of the past year at Chelsea behind him.

Over the past several years, Gibbs-White has proven that he is one of the best all-action midfielders in the Premier League. Goals and assists are his forte, to be sure, but Glasner needs physicality and intensity to charge his set-up.

Delap would be the icing on the cake. A faster, fitter and more durable version of Wood, thus eligible for an elite connection with one of the Premier League’s finest midfielders.