After Nottingham Forest put an end to Tottenham‘s pursuit of Morgan Gibbs-White, we suggest four other number 10s who the north London club could turn their attention to.
The news over the weekend that Morgan Gibbs-White had signed a contract extension felt like a huge blow to Tottenham’s preparations for the season.
Having signed Mohammed Kudus from West Ham on 10 July, Spurs came very close to adding Gibbs-White within the next 48 hours. In the end, they were trumped by Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who reported Spurs for what he considered an illegal approach, and then convinced the player to sign a new three-year contract.
There were a few reasons this was such a hammer blow to Tottenham.
Firstly, after the Kudus signing, the move for Gibbs-White was a signal of intent from a club in desperate need of first-team recruits after their worst-ever Premier League campaign. It also suggested new manager Thomas Frank and the club’s hierarchy were aligned in their view of exactly what they needed and, more importantly, who the ideal signings should be. Adding both Kudus and Gibbs-White, two players who instantly raise the quality of the first XI at Spurs, would have been a big step towards getting this squad ready for their return to the Champions League under new management.
Instead, Spurs have been left – now 20 days on from reports they had booked Gibbs-White in for his medical – starting their pre-season tour of east Asia still searching for a player in that position. On top of that, everyone else is aware Tottenham want to strengthen in that area of the pitch, which could drive up the price of anyone they go for.
The feeling that their progress under the new manager has been punctured is exacerbated by their rivals strengthening far more efficiently, particularly while Spurs stood still as they waited for news on Gibbs-White.
Now, with just two weeks to go until their season starts with the European Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain on 13 August, is it time for Spurs to get their skates on? With that in mind, who could they turn their attention towards as an alternative to Gibbs-White?
Before we get to the meat of this conversation, it’s worth pointing out the possibility that Spurs weren’t after someone like Gibbs-White. Perhaps they wanted him and only him, and an alternative won’t suffice.
It is difficult to find creative players who posted similar numbers to him in part because Gibbs-White is a midfielder who always wants the ball but plays in a team who don’t hold onto it very much and generally attack on transition. Few others find themselves in similar situations to him very often.
With that in mind, rather than search for statistically similar players from around Europe, perhaps it is best to simply look for other creators who also do some of the things Gibbs-White does well, but possibly most importantly, are proven in the Premier League and ready to go. Given the move for Gibbs-White and Spurs’ big-money signings of Kudus, Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, James Maddison and Yves Bissouma over the last few years, they are clearly aiming to sign the best players who would see Spurs as a step up. Rather than taking a risk on a player thriving in Spain or Germany, Tottenham were happy to pay more for proven Premier League quality in Gibbs-White.
Let’s take that as our assumption going forward, then. What we’re looking for for Spurs is a creative midfielder who is proven in the Premier League, and is happy to take responsibility for his team. Someone who demands the ball and looks to make things happen. Gibbs-White was involved in 37.1% of Forest’s open-play, shot-ending sequences in Premier League games last season; only a handful of players played a part in a higher proportion for their team.
And we’re also looking for one who Spurs could realistically buy this summer for a reasonable price, and would improve their first team right away, or at the very least challenge Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski for a spot in central midfield.
Easy, right?
Here are some potential options for Spurs to sign now the Gibbs-White deal is dead in the water.
Eberechi Eze
Reports suggest Eberechi Eze already has his heart set on a move to north London this summer… the only issue for Spurs is it’s said to be Arsenal that Eze is keen on joining.
No agreement has been reached, though, and the news on Wednesday morning was that Arsenal don’t want to pay Eze’s full release clause. That might have opened the door to someone else, and if Spurs want to boost their ranks with one of the best creative midfielders from a Premier League team who are not competing in the Champions League, Eze is quite possibly the best of the lot.
He changes games with his actions at the sharp end of the pitch, ranking seventh for shots and chances created per 90 in the Premier League in 2024-25 (5.5), behind an elite group of players in Bukayo Saka, Cole Palmer, Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Matheus Cunha and Bruno Fernandes.
He deals with pressure exceptionally well, both in the sense of opponents being close by and with big performances on big occasions. He was one of only nine players in the Premier League last season whose pass completion rate increased when an opponent was within two metres of him as he made the pass, going up from 81.2% to 81.9% when under close pressure. Meanwhile, the list of teams he scored against last season alone includes Chelsea, Aston Villa (in two games), Manchester City (in two games, including netting the winner in the FA Cup final), Arsenal, Spurs and Forest.
Spurs might not fancy their chances of convincing him to choose them over Arsenal, particularly after Frank called Tottenham’s rivals “one of the best teams in the world, unfortunately” in a press conference on Tuesday.
But they would be able to offer Eze something that Arsenal probably couldn’t: regular football in a central position. The talk is that Eze would be going to Arsenal to play on the left given there isn’t much chance of the England international taking Martin Ødegaard’s position in central midfield. At Spurs, Eze would play centrally, and is easily good enough to be the main man, just like he is at Palace. That might just appeal.
Harvey Elliott
Spurs haven’t generally signed players from the biggest clubs (even though many of them do plenty of business with one another) and they haven’t bought a first-team player from Liverpool since re-signing Robbie Keane from them all the way back in 2009, just six months after he moved the other way. Even when they do deal with each other, they do their transfers in unusual circumstances.
But maybe this is the summer to put an end to that by taking a look at Harvey Elliott.
The 22-year-old has talent in abundance, although he is yet to fully deliver on the promise he showed when he became the youngest player in Premier League history (at the time) in 2019, debuting for Fulham aged just 16 years and 30 days.
At Liverpool, he has won the Premier League and EFL Cup twice, and he has gained experience in the Champions League. He hasn’t, however, played all that much football given he was deemed first-team ready at such a young age.
In four seasons since returning to Anfield after a season on loan in the Championship at Blackburn, Elliott has started just 35 of a possible 152 Premier League games. Despite being available to play and in the squad almost all of the time across all competitions in 2022-23 and 2023-24, he only played around half of Liverpool’s minutes, as the below graphic shows.
Last season, a broken foot disrupted the start of the campaign for him, but he will still have been disappointed to play only 360 minutes – the equivalent of just four full matches – as Liverpool won the title.
Now, he has publicly set himself the target of making England’s squad for the World Cup next summer, opening the door to a possible move away.
“If I had it my way, I would be here for the rest of my career,” he said. “I love everything about the club, but at the same time, I kind of need to be selfish and see what’s best for me. I have big ambitions. I want to get in the World Cup squad.
“We have many new players who have come in, so whether it blocks the path for me, I’m not sure. It’s something I need to have a look at and decide.”
He would get much more game time at Spurs, who would hope he could translate his impressive numbers from sporadic appearances to a consistent run of first-team football.
Over the past two seasons, only five players averaged more shots and chances created per 90 in Premier League games than Elliott (6.0), while only three players averaged more assists per 90 than his 0.42. He also ranks favourably for passes ending in the final third (25.7 per 90) and passes played into the box (6.7 per 90). Meanwhile, only De Bruyne and Rodri were involved in more open-play shot-ending sequences per 90 than him.
He also works extremely hard, and having learned his trade under Jürgen Klopp, it is perhaps no surprise that over the last two seasons, only a handful of players have won possession in the final third more often than him (1.1 times per 90).
It’s time for Elliott to play regularly and, if he is open to the move, he could be just what Tottenham need.
Mikkel Damsgaard
Ever since Thomas Frank took over at Tottenham, those in charge of football’s rumour mill have assumed he would return to former club Brentford to sign at least one player.
With Spurs now looking for a hard-working, ball-carrying number 10, could that player be Mikkel Damsgaard?
The Dane just had his best campaign, becoming the first Brentford player ever to register 10 assists in a Premier League season as he overcame persistent recent injury problems to start 34 of 38 league games and appear as a sub in the other four.
His exceptional passing and vision were on show all season. Only three players in the whole league got more assists, while only a handful more created more chances (63) or big chances (15) than him. Only Bruno Fernandes (320) and Bryan Mbeumo (261) played more passes into the penalty area than him (239).
He consistently took opposition players out of the game with his passing, and did so to devastating effect. Only three players broke the defensive line with a pass more times than him (56), and eight of his line-breaking passes led to a goal within 10 seconds of him playing the ball, which was more than any other player in the Premier League.
He knows what Frank would demand of him and is particularly effective at carrying out his former manager’s pressing game; only Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo (37) won possession in the final third more times in the Premier League last season than Damsgaard (35).
Crucially, Frank knows exactly how to get the best out of Damsgaard, and that could make him an attractive option.
Bilal El Khannouss
A cheaper and probably riskier option would be to take a punt on the undoubted potential of Leicester City midfielder Bilal El Khannouss.
The 21-year-old only joined last summer after a couple of seasons in Genk’s first team in Belgium, but he showed glimpses of his ability during a difficult first year in England as Leicester suffered relegation to the Championship.
He did, however, show he is up to playing in the Premier League and that his future is at that level, starting 27 games and coming off the bench in five more. His two goals – which included the winner in the away win at Tottenham in January – and three assists don’t provide the most eye-catching numbers, but the fact he was playing in such a below-par Leicester team can at least in part mitigate that poor return.
Some of his underlying numbers, however, give a better insight into his ability.
He averaged 1.7 chances created per 90, which put him just ahead of Gibbs-White (1.6), and 1.2 shots per 90, slightly more than Damsgaard (1.1).
He ranked favourably for passes into the opposition’s penalty area, with 5.3 per 90, despite playing for the team who played the third fewest such passes per game (23.1). Speaking of looking for players who like to take on a lot of creative responsibility, El Khannouss alone accounted for almost a quarter of Leicester’s passes into the box.
He is also a very good and direct dribbler, averaging 12.9 ball carries (moving at least five metres with the ball) per 90 last season, which is exactly the same rate as Mohamed Salah, and 6.4 progressive carries (moving with the ball at least five metres towards the opposition’s goal) per 90, which, again, put him just ahead of Gibbs-White (6.3).
Meanwhile, of the 86 players to attempt at least 50 dribbles, only Callum Hudson-Odoi, Youri Tielemans and Jérémy Doku maintained a better dribble success rate than him (59.7%). And none of those three play in as crowded, advanced, and central positions as him.
There was too little end product to this fine work last season to be able to truly say he could be an effective creator for a Champions League club, but he would surely improve his rate of carries followed by a shot (0.5 per 90) or chance created (0.4) in a better and more dominant team than Leicester’s.
Although he isn’t quite as proven as the other players in this list, plenty of the ingredients are there for El Khannouss to make the step back up to the Premier League.
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