It has been well-publicised that Tottenham have offered £60 million for Morgan Gibbs-White, which just so happens to be his release clause. In theory, that should make him a Tottenham player.
So what’s all the fuss about then?
Well, that release clause value was meant to be confidential. Nottingham Forest is fuming for quite a few reasons, but the main reason being that they were just about to sell him to City for a higher fee! If Tottenham were not permitted to speak to Gibbs-White, or his representatives, then how did Tottenham find out about it?
Forrest have threatened a legal battle, but it is currently being discussed amicably between the clubs; an attempt to come to a resolution. Gibbs-White will likely not want to sue Forest to get out of his contract, because they should be allowing him to leave if another club has offered to pay the required fee. Forest want Spurs investigated for a potential inducement of Gibbs-White to breach his contract, and also claiming a breach of confidentiality (although it is not clear if this is aimed at Gibbs White or his representatives). Normally, you would need to show loss – and Forest may say they are entitled to the difference between what they value Gibbs-White at and what Tottenham have supposedly induced him to be sold at.
Conversely, Gibbs-White has a contractual agreement that if another club is prepared to pay a certain transfer fee, he can leave the City Ground. So, would he want to start a cause of action against his own club, just to leave?
Forest may also argue that the full release clause was not activated, as there may have been additional stipulations and conditions related to that fee that have not been triggered. However, if the specific nature of the release clause was indeed met, then this is potentially even more evidence to suggest that Tottenham secretly knew more than they let on
We await the outcome, but it certainly raises a lot of legal questions.