Nottingham Forest have announced the arrival of Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a five-year deal.
The midfielder becomes Steve Cooper's 17th arrival of the summer transfer window and takes Forest's spending up to an impressive £145.5m, second only to Chelsea (£176.5m).
The 22-year-old has been with the Wolves setup since the age of eight but was widely tipped to move on this summer, having supposedly turned down the offer of a new contract with Bruno Lage's side in May.
Gibbs-White is already well known to Cooper, having played under him both as a member of the World Cup-winning England Under-17s side in 2017 and on loan at Swansea City in the 2020-21 season.
The deal is for what could become a club-record £42.5m, comprising £25m up front and £17.5m in add-ons - one of which is believed to be Forest avoiding relegation this season.
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Wolves chairman Jeff Shi said: "At Wolves, we have been consistently working hard to improve our academy, and in the last six years I have seen the growth of Morgan from a teenager to a fully-fledged Premier League player, which epitomises our efforts and achievements for young players.
"Morgan made his first-team debut in the FA Cup at 16-years-old, and it was clear to see that we had a very special young player coming through.
"Morgan's natural talent, hard work and dedication, combined with the excellent coaches he has worked with throughout his development here at Wolves, was the perfect recipe for him to grow into the exciting young footballer he is today.
"After his successes last season, it was no secret that Morgan declined to sign a new contract at Wolves, but despite that he has always acted with the utmost professionalism and gave everything for the team.
"Morgan leaves as the most valuable Wolves Academy graduate in the club's history and will be an inspiration to the next generation of young players in our academy today. I look forward to more and more of them fulfilling their potential at Wolves.
"We place on record our sincere thanks to Morgan for his effort and enthusiasm over the 14 years he has been at the club and wish him the very best of luck in the next stage of his career."
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Gibbs-White, who had appeared in both of Wolves' league games this season, spent the last campaign in the Championship with Sheffield United, contributing 11 goals in 35 league appearances.
At Forest he joins a side which has also added the likes of Jesse Lingard, former Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey, Emmanuel Dennis, Remo Freuler and Lewis O'Brien to its ranks over the last six weeks.
Wolves, meanwhile, have bolstered their midfield in the last week with the astute additions of Goncalo Guedes and Matheus Nunes, the latter for a club-record £42m fee.
The Midlands outfit have also brought in centre-back Nathan Collins from Burnley and will now turn their attentions to signing a high-quality striker before the transfer window closes on September 1.
Neil Wilkes
