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Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany believes that it is “very obvious” why Pep Guardiola‘s side are tempted to sign Morgan Gibbs-White and feels that comparisons made to Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips are “silly”.
A new era is underway at the Etihad Stadium as Hugo Viana has now started full-time work as Man City’s new sporting director and will work alongside outgoing chief Txiki Begiristain during a transition period, with their focus primarily on a much-anticipated squad rebuild this summer.
Nottingham Forest star Gibbs-White is believed to be one of multiple candidates who is expected to feature in City’s transfer deliberations and recent reports claim that the Citizens plan to advance on the 25-year-old in the ‘next weeks’.
McInerney regularly shares his views on all things related to Man City on his Esteemed Kompany YouTube channel and he is somewhat surprised by how divided the club’s fanbase is on speculation linking Gibbs-White with a big-money move to the Etihad.
“I do YouTube videos about Manchester City Football Club and I’ve never had a transfer more divisive than this,” McInerney told Sports Mole. “I think there’s been a bit of overreaction to this.
“My initial reaction to this was one of more caution. I went down the reductive route [asking myself] ‘Would he play for a Champions League semi-final side? Would he start for Real Madrid? And then I realised that’s a stupid argument.
“When we signed Nathan Ake, for example, Real Madrid wouldn’t have signed him. They wouldn’t have signed Manuel Akanji for £15m from Dortmund. I’m not saying these guys are superstars, but they’re treble winners, they were part of the best backline in Europe for a good year-and-a-half, two years.
“Every club’s circumstance is different and the players that you sign don’t have to be the best players, they have to fit into the best side, the best organised side and have the best structure around them and so on.”
McInerney can understand why Man City would be tempted to sign a homegrown player such as Gibbs-White, especially if a number of English stars within Guardiola’s current squad depart this summer.
‘It’s very obvious why Man City are tempted by Gibbs-White’
He said: “I was a bit down initially on [Gibbs-White to Man City links] because I did do the whole: ‘Oh is he a [Kevin] De Bruyne replacement?’ Because with all due respect to Morgan Gibbs-White, De Bruyne is the greatest ever to do it. It does feel like you want a marquee signing there (to replace him).
“But, it’s very obvious now in hindsight why Manchester City are tempted by this player. There’s the functional reasons. We have to sign homegrown players. The squad makeup requires it, there’s so many players that are about to leave.
“Kyle Walker is definitely one of them who is going. You’d expect John Stones, Jack Grealish are looking out the door potentially. There’s rumours James McAtee might move on. Nathan Ake, who knows about his future. Players are going to have to be signed that fit the quota and Morgan Gibbs-White would be one of them for obvious reasons.
‘Gibbs-White would jump in a heartbeat to play under Guardiola’
“He’s got two years left on his (Forest) contract. He’s made no intention of signing [a new deal] and has made it pretty clear he probably wants to move on. I’d be amazed if his agent isn’t already saying: ‘You want this move, we’re not going to sign a new contract… with all due respect to Forest, we want to go to Manchester City Football Club.’ I think he would jump in a heartbeat to play under Guardiola.”
Discussing what qualities Gibbs-White would offer in midfield, McInerney said: “What struck me immediately is he’s very, very, very, very comfortable in possession, doesn’t lose the ball which is a number one priority for Guardiola. He’s very technically adept, really good footwork in tight spaces and the way he can shift the ball from one foot to another, comfortable with either foot passing.
“Nuno [Espirito Santo] at Forest has used him in a whole bunch of positions, being a little bit deeper occasionally in a double pivot, as an eight, on the left or the right, as a 10 shuttling across the front. He’s so tactically versatile, he can play multiple positions which is a Guardiola trait that he’ll absolutely love.
“Also for me, the biggest sort of positive is his mentality. He’s [been] the captain of Forest, he’s been their best player since he signed for £40m from Wolves a few years ago. People who work with him, they gush about his mentality and his professionalism. An intensely dedicated footballer, really hard-working, an iron will and a determination to not lose.”
McInerney does not believe that supporters can compare Gibbs-White to the likes of Jack Grealish and Kalvin Phillips, who have failed to justify their hefty price tags since joining from Aston Villa and Leeds United respectively, and he has instead suggested that Gibbs-White’s career at Man City could have a similar trajectory to Nathan Ake.
“It’s a little bit lazy [for people to suggest that] just because [Gibbs-White is] English, could he be another Kalvin Phillips or Jack Grealish? I think presuming every English footballer is the same is silly,” said McInerney.
Gibbs-White is “different” to Grealish, Phillips as Ake comparison is made
“The issue for Grealish is that he said himself that he felt like he completed football after winning the treble and he even said he struggled a little bit for motivation. I’ve always felt Jack Grealish was very much more comfortable being the bigger-fish-in-the-small-pond kind of player.
“I think Jack Grealish is a very good footballer [but] I don’t think he’s an elite winner, [someone who will] get up and seize the day and grind, grind, grind. I don’t think he’s that kind of guy.. I think he’s talented, works hard enough, gets through it, but I don’t think he’s that level of [wanting] to win and wanting to be the very best, [but] I think Morgan Gibbs-White is different to that.
“I think Kalvin Phillips’s problem was that I just don’t think he could keep up with Manchester City. He was a little Leeds boy and I don’t think he quite knew how to react to life at Manchester City. I think Gibbs-White will be different.
“I think his mentality is different. I think he’s intensely hard-working, he does have that relentless drive, as well as that Bernardo Silva running engine. He is versatile, he’s the best player in the dressing room at Forest, he’s technically really good.
“The guy clearly has a bit of magic in his boots and I’m not saying he’s a 10 out of 10 player, or a world-class player, but he strikes me as the guy who would give you seven-and-a-half, eight out of ten every game, like Ake did when he arrived, and before you know it after a year or two, you realise: ‘Wait this guy’s actually phenomenally good’.
“Ake came in as a seven-and-a-half, eight-out-of-ten player and for the last year or two, people have said he’s City’s best natural defender. The [reason why] I’m using him [as an example] is that he was a very similar profile (to Gibbs-White) – the captain of a club without the grand ideas of Man City, really hard-working, focused, technically good, he got better and better and better because they worked hard. I think Gibbs-White could be similar.
“Gibbs-White would very much suit Man City”
“I think he could come in and compliment Rodri, compliment Bernardo Silva if he’s still there, compliment Florian Wirtz if he comes in, and Phil Foden. I think he could be a really smart player. The [transfer fee] could be high… but I get the appeal.
“I know he’s not a superstar, but football isn’t just these small technical players anymore. You have to be able to run as well. I think Gibbs-White might be better technically than we’re giving him credit for. I know he can do the running and I know his attitude is good, you can just tell, and I think the appeal of (signing) him is quite obvious.”
While McInerney does not believe that Gibbs-White can be considered a like-for-like replacement for De Bruyne, he feels that there are some similarities between the Forest star and Bernardo Silva – who has been linked with a return to boyhood club Benfica – in terms of their versatility in midfield.
“I don’t think he’d be a De Bruyne replacement. I know [Gibbs-White] likes to play as a 10, but he does play as an eight often,” McInerney added. “He plays everywhere really. I think Bernardo Silva is irreplaceable to an extent, at his best he was a top-10 player in the world.
“Gibbs-White would very much suit Manchester City, I reckon, given the role that he would step into, which I think would be Bernardo’s.”
Meanwhile, McInerney has also shared his thoughts on why Man City can afford to potentially spend north of £300m on new signings this summer, with the likes of Bayer Leverkusen’s Wirtz, Juventus’ Andrea Cambiaso and Porto’s Diogo Costa among several other players on the club’s list of targets.
Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion.
