Manchester City were busy in the January transfer window, signing five players for a combined £183million; the second-highest spend by a Premier League club in a January window ever.
In a campaign that has seen them relinquish the Premier League title after four consecutive years at the summit and fall short in the Champions League, City are also expected to utilise the market this summer to put things right for next season.
With captain Kevin De Bruyne set to depart, strengthening the midfield will be a priority and Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White has emerged as a potential target.
On the latest episode of “The Athletic FC Podcast”, Ayo Akinwolere was joined by Phil Hay and City correspondent Sam Lee to discuss whether Gibbs-White would be a good fit for Pep Guardiola’s side. Watch the full episode below.
A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in “The Athletic FC Podcast” feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Ayo: Phil, we’ve spoken about big hitters coming into this club and the big fees Manchester City would have to pay for them. From what we’ve seen of Morgan Gibbs-White, do you think he is a player who could step up under this system that Guardiola plays? Could he be a player that makes an impact in competitions like the Champions League for instance? Because that’s the kind of player that City should be looking at if this rebuild is to be relatively successful, isn’t it?
Phil: Yeah definitely, and I think he would be a good fit. You’re never quite sure with City however because it’s such an extreme level of excellence they’ve had over the years. I have very fresh in my mind the image of Kalvin Phillips going there from Leeds United for around £43m a couple of seasons back, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘He should do OK there, he’ll be fine.’ He’d been very good at Leeds and had earned a move up the ladder, which was a huge opportunity for him. And I thought he would do OK there. But what you realised was that once Phillips got to City he just wasn’t able to meet the standards that Guardiola was after. And beyond that, you realised that what Rodri in particular was doing in that midfield was exceptional. That was the area that Phillips would have wanted to deputise or fill in when Rodri wasn’t there, or maybe would have hoped to even take Rodri’s place if he happened to be better than him, but clearly he wasn’t. The fact is Rodri was virtually the best of the best in that role in European football, and that is what you have to be to play under Guardiola. It certainly was in that period when they were going for the treble.
How well Gibbs-White would adjust if he does go remains to be seen, but he’s a really classy footballer and he’s heading for the top bracket. As far as his personal circumstances go as well, even though Forest are not a mile away themselves from qualifying for the Champions League, I do wonder how wedded he would be to them. He’s not from Nottingham, he doesn’t support Forest and he’s only been on the books there for three years which isn’t an exceptionally long period of time. He also wasn’t particularly shy in bailing out of Wolves when the opportunity came, which is not a criticism of him — it’s just a fact. So my feeling with him is that at 25 years old — and I often feel like he’s younger than that, but he is 25 now — he won’t want to miss the boat if a big offer drops. And let’s be honest, City is the sort of transfer that most players jump on when it comes around and not much about Gibbs-White says he will be any different.
Sam: It’s really interesting with Gibbs-White because I feel like the City fanbase are really split on it. And at least from the algorithm I’ve got on my Twitter feed, they’re slightly more negative about it. People want (Tijani) Reijnders from Milan, because obviously when you talk about the fees for signing Premier League talent, Reijnders would clearly be cheaper than him. I also think that people are a bit underwhelmed by Gibbs-White. And there is possibly a lingering dislike towards him because of that clash he had with Rodri a couple of seasons ago, when Rodri got sent off for grabbing him around the throat and all things like that. But I remember seeing him play against City around last February, and he was really impressive.
I always look at transfers of this ilk that other Premier League teams have made, and Liverpool signing (Diogo) Jota is a perfect example of this. I just thought, ‘How have you managed to see that if you put him into what we’ve got here at Liverpool, his talent is going to multiply’. (Jack) Grealish isn’t a good example now because of how it’s gone for him at City. But I remember watching him back in the 2020 Carabao Cup final five years ago when he was still playing for Villa. You saw him floating around the pitch with the ball and I thought, ‘I can see exactly why City want that’.
I’ve been trying to look for more examples of that in recent years. And when I saw Gibbs-White in that game last February, I just thought, ‘I could see him doing this at City and being better for it’. So I think it would be a good signing. But it is a really interesting one because even though he’s had a good season, he’s not had the kind of season where he’s an absolute demand. It’s not like you’ve got to go out and get this kid. But I personally think what he’s got fits into what City need.
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