Head coach Steve Cooper has backed Morgan Gibbs-White to have a big impact at Nottingham Forest, following his club record move.
The Reds splashed out an initial £25m to secure the 22-year-old’s signature, amid plenty of competition from elsewhere. Last week, he completed the switch from Wolverhampton Wanderers, putting pen to paper on a five-year deal at the City Ground.
Linking up with Cooper again is understood to have had a significant pull for Gibbs-White. The pair have worked together before, at Swansea City and with England Under-17s.
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The Forest boss made the attacking midfielder one of his top targets this summer. And he is confident the youngster’s best years are ahead of him on Trentside.
“He’s a hungry lad, a hungry footballer, in terms of how he trains and how he plays,” Cooper told NottinghamshireLive. “You could see that in his appearance on Saturday (when he came off the bench at Everton), he had a good impact on the game.
“He wants the ball. He wants to make a difference. He takes risks in an area which can be the most impactful on the game, in regards to creating and scoring goals.
“And he has a real desire and self-belief to utilise his ability as best he can. I like that in a player - and he has that.
“He’s of a great age. He’ll be ready for a new challenge, which is what we’re going to give him here at Nottingham Forest.
“Nothing is certain in life, but we are confident he can do really well here. We want to give him our support in trying to have the impact we believe he can have.
“But it’s about the team. It’s about him fitting into what we do. He’s like that anyway - he’s a good teammate.
“He’s a very good trainer and is interested in his learning, interested in how he gets better. Although we feel he can already perform at a really high level, he’s still got a lot of growth in his game, because that just comes with age and experience.
“He joins a team that wants to excel. But he also joins a group of lads of a similar age who are on the same part of the journey - Brennan (Johnson), for example. It will be good to see them grow.
“We’re really happy with Morgan. Obviously I have some personal history with him, with the national team and with Swansea. That helps, that’s important, but neither of us will take that for granted.
“This is a different club and a new challenge for us both. We’re all part of the greater good and the collective.
“It does help that we know each other. And it’s not just me, some of the staff were with me at Swansea and England, and he knows a couple of the guys already.
“He doesn’t need his hand holding, like none of these new guys do. They fit in straight away.
“There’s a really good vibe around the training ground. That’s continued since Morgan’s come in as well, along with a few other new faces in recent weeks.
“We know his quality. We know what his worth will be to us this season and beyond, and we want to utilise that as best we can.”
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