Morgan Gibbs-White has revealed complications with his fiancee’s pregnancy were a factor in his decision to stay at Nottingham Forest.
The Englishman was at the centre of one of this summer’s biggest transfer sagas, when he turned his back on a move to Tottenham after they thought they had activated his £60million release clause.
Gibbs-White looked all set for north London back in July, with a medical booked, only for the deal to be put on hold.
Forest lodged a legal complaint after they believed Spurs’ approach was illegal, which sparked a total U-turn from the midfielder.
He pledged his long-term future to the Reds, penning a new three-year deal to keep him at the City Ground until 2028.
Gibbs-White’s decision to turn down a chance of Champions League football the final hour raised plenty of eyebrows, but he has now opened up on the bigger story behind this.
Speaking exclusively to talkSPORT, he revealed the personal issues he had to contend with while the transfer saga unfolded, with he and his fiancée, Britney, recently welcoming their second child.
However, Gibbs-White shared that Britney suffered complications in her pregnancy during the same period.
The England international did not initially travel to Portugal with the Forest squad for their pre-season training camp due to a personal matter when his partner was heavily pregnant.
Discussing this time, he said: “Every footballer has personal goals and personal ambitions that they want to achieve.
“Mine is winning trophies, playing in the World Cup, playing in the Euros, playing Champions League football, just to be able to reach the maximum that I’m able to reach.
“Obviously in the summer, everybody’s seen what was going on and whatever.”
Gibbs-White continued: “But away from that, it was a really difficult period for me and my fiancée.
“Having my second child, but there were a few complications with all of that.
“I believed in being professional, showing up every day and letting everything else take care of what it needs to do. I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason.
“I’m delighted with my decision, more than happy. I think my fiancée is even more happy because she didn’t get to carry on with all the stress.”
Since joining from Wolves in 2022, Gibbs-White has established himself as one of Forest’s most important players.
Last season, he scored seven goals and provided eight assists in 34 Premier League games, helping Nuno Espirito Santo’s side to a seventh-place finish.
And with the Reds competing in the Europa League this season, Gibbs-White admitted his personal story with the club left him feeling he had unfinished business in the East Midlands.
He continued “With everything that happened this summer, it was like it hit home a bit.
“I’ve been through a lot with this club these past three years, and to feel like I was going to miss out on what we achieved last season sort of broke me a little bit.
“And I wanted to go through this next stage with Forest and play Europa League football with them, because me and a few others were the ones that, three years ago we came in, this was our goal to stay in the league and try and push up.”
Gibbs-White added: “It’s a home from home, so I sort of had that broken-hearted feeling, like when you split with your first childhood girlfriend.”
And after he kicked off his fourth season with Forest by playing 84 minutes of their 3-1 win over Brentford, the 25-year-old admitted he had full confidence in his decision to stay.
He said: “I’ve got to look at what’s best for myself and my family.
“And I feel like every decision I’ve made, I’ve made it on my own back and the help of my family.
“I’ve not once regretted any decision that I’ve made in my career so far, so I’m going to stick to what I believe and everything happens for a reason.”