Daniel Levy has been moving swiftly in the transfer window this week as the 63-year-old club chairman secured a transfer to bring Mohammed Kudus to Hotspur Way, and now the Lilywhites are closing in on a move to sign Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White in a move that would cost around £60m.
It has been a transfer brewing in the attic for a while, given how MGW was subject to links with the North Londoners for a while, and now the club have blazed their interest into a transfer as transfer guru Fabrizio Romano gave his ever-reliable ‘here we go’ on the transfer to go ahead.
But this has raised questions among the Lilywhites faithful, who ponder whether the former Wolves’ ace arrival is more of a reinforcement alongside James Maddison or someone who is a direct replacement for him.
Now if we are thinking about incoming Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank and the tactical preferences that the former Brentford manager holds, you could easily start thinking along the lines of Gibbs-White eventually superseding Maddison as the North Londoners primary creative force.
Comparing the basis of James Maddison with Gibbs-White
James Maddison has now been featuring as the Lilywhites chief creative outlet for a while, but he has barely replicated his output of his initial days at Hotspur Way, and this also led to former Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou preferring Dejan Kulusevski in the central zones to the former Foxes ace last season.
While MGW has been more of an attacking midfielder cum wide creator who has that elite ball-carrying ability complemented by a grinding presence.
Moreover, when directly compared to Maddison, the Nottingham Forest ace also is more robust when it comes to injuries, which Maddison is consistently struggling with.
How can Morgan Gibbs-White fit at Tottenham under Thomas Frank?
The Dane head coach is expected to play a system that is quite in line with how he played at Brentford, and his attacking setup at Gtech Community Stadium thrived, which relied on vertical transitions alongside pressing intensity and spatial interchange, and all of which could come in handy in a high-technical roster that Tottenham boasts.
If we are talking about MGW, he is a highly press-resistant player who has that dynamism about him given how he plays on the half turn. He is also really good at taking advantage of chaotic situations, especially in transitional situations in attack (something that Maddison really struggled with).
Thomas Frank can play in a right-sided #10 role in a 3-4-2-1 or maybe a free-roaming #8/10 role in a 4-3-3, given how he can use his ability to carry the ball through midfield, which ends up complementing runners like Kudus or Solanke.
Frank is a structural coach, and he needs players to work in a system, and pressing from the front is one of the key attributes of that. And Morgan Gibbs-White meets that pressing intensity, given how he offers better defensive contribution and counter-pressing than Maddison, which ends up making him a tactically modern #10.
Moreover, the potential to have a trio of Kudus, Solanke, and Gibbs-White is something that Tottenham supporters (and Frank) would be excited about, given how that brings a sense of technical dynamism and positional interchange (unlike what Tottenham had in a more static attacking unit under Postecoglou).
So the big question is, what happens to Maddison?
The Foxes midfielder is still a high-quality player, but then along the past season we saw how his limitations were continually exposed, and that, to me, starts with his fitness concern, which limits his availability along the campaign. We also saw how he ended up being quite susceptible to pressing and at times didn’t give you the needed influence in deeper or wider roles.
Under Frank, Maddison may end up becoming more of a rotational option or be pushed into a wider midfield role (where he can focus on creative freedom without a defensive burden, which Ange also tried to be fair).
However, if Levy is to receive a strong offer for Maddison, I don’t think a sale would be surprising, especially given how Maddison’s style clashes with the pressing system that the Dane head coach wants to implement at N17.
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Author Opinion
While Thomas Frank will claim that bringing in Morgan Gibbs-White is a transfer to bring depth, everything to me suggests that Gibbs-White at Tottenham will end up being a long-term Maddison substitute, especially given his budding age and fitness level complemented by the tactical ceiling that he brings at N17.
This is a forward-looking decision from Daniel Levy and quite possibly the one that will transform Tottenham, at least within the current Premier League context.
