Welcome to the summer transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur. It took awhile for Spurs to join the summer transfer business party, but there are actively wheeling and dealing right now. On Thursday, Spurs unveiled Mohammed Kudus as their first big signing of the summer, having procured the winger/attacking midfielder from London rivals West Ham United for £55 million. Next, they want to sign another attacking midfielder, Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest.
There are some major stumbling blocks to overcome, of course.
Gibbs-White has a release clause of £60 million, and the North London club are good with paying that. They really want to sign the 25-year-old England international, and understand that they’ll have to splash the cash in order to do so. However, Forest are reportedly contemplating taking legal action again Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, according to a report in Football.London.
NUFC seem to believe that Tottenham made an illegal approach for the player, otherwise known as “tampering” or “tapping up.” Obviously, this kind of atmosphere/sentiment is not conducive to negotiating a deal, so we’ll see where this goes.
The reason that Tottenham didn’t make any real major moves in the transfer market, until mid-July this year, was the managerial switch. With Thomas Frank taking over for Ange Postecoglu, they had to focus on that first. And now comes the makeover of the squad, in the vein of players who fit the type of systems that Frank likes to play.
In other words, watch this space! Whether or whether not they sign Gibbs-White, a lot deals will be struck.
And earlier this summer, Tottenham agreed to sign Mathys Tel on a permanent basis, after his excellent half of a season in 2024-25.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter