Manchester City are considered frontrunners in the pursuit of England international Morgan Gibbs-White this summer.
The Nottingham Forest midfielder has earned major plaudits this season as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side bid to secure an unlikely qualification to the Champions League.
New director of football Hugo Viana is set to reshape City’s squad over the coming months, with central midfield a key area to strengthen after the club opted against offering Kevin De Bruyne a new contract.
Liverpool and Manchester United have been credited with interest in Gibbs-White but Mail Sport understands City will lead the race once the campaign is over.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz is City’s dream acquisition in the final third but the German – yet to decide on his future – is also wanted by Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
Regardless, Wirtz offers a different skillset to Gibbs-White and City recognise the need for more energy in midfield if they are to compete for next year’s title.
Manchester City are considered the frontrunners to land Morgan Gibbs-White this summer
The Nottingham Forest midfielder is attracting interest after a stellar year in the Premier League
Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz is also a target for City, who are set to rebuild their midfield
Gibbs-White is close friends with Phil Foden, who named his former England Under-17 World Cup winning teammate godfather to his first child, Ronnie.
The former Wolves academy joined Forest in an initial £25million move three years ago and has a contract at the City Ground until the end of the 2026-27 season.
Gibbs-White’s performances under Espirito Santo earned him an England debut, handed down by interim boss Lee Carsley last September.
His performances for the Under 21s for Carsley – one of England’s brightest sparks as they lifted the European Championship in 2023 – caught the attention of FA bosses.
But new head coach Thomas Tuchel didn’t initially select the 25-year-old for last month’s World Cup qualifiers, with the pair holding a frank discussion about that decision.
Tuchel did ultimately call him up and is keeping a close eye on developments ahead of a qualifier and friendly scheduled for early June before City head for the Club World Cup.
Meanwhile, City face Forest in next weekend’s FA Cup semi-final and go to Everton on Saturday in the hunt to secure a top five place.
Champions League qualification would make any transfer business easier to complete, although Pep Guardiola revealed the club do not have separate lists of targets were they to only enter the Europa League.
‘In the conversations with the club, the club don’t have one list for the Champions League and one list for [another],’ Guardiola said.
‘It depends on the players we want and whether they just have one option. If they have many, I’m pretty sure the players take a look to the ones in the Champions League, of course.
‘Maybe players come anyway and there are other ones who say they don’t want to go because of no Champions League. I don’t know.’
Games against Everton and then Aston Villa on Tuesday will go some way to determining where City finish the season after moving back up to fifth last weekend. Guardiola admitted that James McAtee, who Forest have been keeping an eye on, could be tempted by a move elsewhere.
‘I’d like him to stay,’ Guardiola added. ‘But I understand the players want more minutes. I would like him to stay, he’s a player for the academy, he knows the patterns. He’s a lovely person and trained really good. He can play different positions but I don’t know how the squad will be and we will see.’