By Daniel Feliciano

10th Aug, 2022 | 1:20pm

Scouting expert: £40m 'too good to refuse' for Wolves amid Nottingham Forest interest in Morgan Gibbs-White

We’re delighted to welcome Football Manager’s Wolves researcher Dave Azzopardi as our exclusive columnist. Each week the scouting expert will be giving his views on the biggest talking points on Wonderkids across the UK…

Nottingham Forest could have to go up to £30m up front to sign Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolves, with a £40m package “too good to refuse”.

That’s according to Dave Azzopardi, who says that Nottingham Forest would be taking a huge risk in paying that amount of money for a player with little-to-no Premier League experience, despite his growing reputation.

With reports that Forest are plotting to return with another bid after having a bid worth a total of £35m rejected [Guardian, August 5] last week, Azzopardi felt that the player’s performance wasn’t affected in the season opener by anything other than the team’s style of play.

“He was okay, he played alright,” he told The Football Wonderkids.

“I don’t think Wolves played to his strengths against Leeds, they seemed to aim a lot of their play down Pedro Neto’s side on the left more than Morgan who was playing on the right.

“I was surprised. Wolves are probably holding out for £30m up front at least, because I know that £35m bid was £25m up front plus £10m in add-ons and apparently some of the add-ons weren’t very realistic. I think if Forest are coming back with a bid of at least £30m up front, plus the add-ons then I think it would be very hard for Wolves to refuse.

“He’s a talented player and he can do something in the Premier League. I think he’s going to be a Premier League player for most of his career. But at this point where Wolves want to strengthen, I think £40m for a player who hasn’t completely proved it yet in the Premier League is too good to refuse.

“I’m surprised that Forest, obviously they’ve signed so many players already, that they’ve still got another £40m if true to spend on one player.

“It’s a huge risk for them because if they go down, or if they struggle this season and they’ve spent all this money and spent £40m on a player then go down, it’s a huge risk.

“The other teams obviously Palace and Everton, I can’t see them stumping up that kind of money. Steve Cooper the Forest manager has managed Morgan before for the England U17’s so he knows he’s a talented player, he knows what he’s about so I suppose it makes sense on that front.”

In other Wolves news, Dave Azzopardi has had his say on Fabio Silva’s loan move to Anderlecht