Everton suffer blow as Morgan Gibbs-White stance unearthed
Everton have been chasing the signing of Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White for a long time but things are beginning to look difficult.
Ryan Taylor of the Daily Express believes that the 22-year-old is hotly contested but the Toffees are frontrunners in the race to sign him after a stellar season in the Championship while on loan at Sheffield United.
But the latest news from Daily Mail correspondent Tom Collomosse will not be what Frank Lampard or any Everton fan wants to hear after so long in pursuit of the England youth international.
“Gibbs-White: in no rush to decide on his future or to leave Wolves,” Collomosse said via his personal Twitter account. “Plenty of interest but as things stand at the moment, player happy to stay.”
Those last four words will be what really stings the Toffees because they could have been able to force a transfer if he was unsettled at Molineux and wanted a new challenge.
But despite making little progress towards the Wolves senior team since his debut as a teenager, he seems content to fight for his place in Bruno Lage’s plans this season although there are so few players contracted to the Midlands club that he could be a starter by default come the opening day of the season.
Wolves are likely to ask for a relatively hefty price for Gibbs-White but he has clearly been earmarked by Lampard and Kevin Thelwell as the man they want so no price should put them off their goal.
He proved at Bramall Lane last season that he is ready for Championship football but he is still unproven in the promised land of the Premier League and it would be a huge risk to bring him in.
But after what Lampard managed to inspire at the end of last season, we have to be smart enough to trust and back him in the transfer market to give us the best chance of a less stressful 2022-23 campaign.