Gibbs-White's month to prove World Cup worth

Morgan Gibbs-White has a month to make his World Cup case.

Sunday’s hat-trick against Burnley was a reminder the Nottingham Forest man can still be in the battle to be England’s number 10.

Last month, he was left out of Thomas Tuchel’s 35-man England squad for the friendlies against Japan and Uruguay.

But he is the man in form with eight goals in his past 13 games. Since the start of March, no player has scored more in the Premier League than Gibbs-White’s six.

Forest go to Sunderland in the Premier League on Friday – so with 54 days to go until England’s World Cup opener, can the 26-year-old old make a late dash for the squad?

Gibbs-White is rated throughout the England set-up, not just by Tuchel, given his achievements within the youth system.

He won the Under-17 World Cup in 2017 and the European Championship with Lee Carsley’s Under-21s three years ago.

Yet Gibbs-White is still some way down Tuchel’s pecking order.

He last played for the Three Lions in October’s 3-0 win over Wales, having had 12 minutes in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra in September.

Over his six caps he has played just 89 minutes after being handed his debut by Carsley as a second-half substitute against the Republic of Ireland in September 2024.

But Tuchel is yet to put his full faith in Gibbs-White, despite others struggling for consistency this season.

Cole Palmer, Eberechi Eze, Morgan Rogers, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham – all called up for last month’s friendlies – are ahead of him in the contest to be England’s number 10.

Gibbs-White (2,819) and Aston Villa’s Rogers (2,925) have played the most minutes this season of the number 10 contenders – over a thousand more than Palmer – to underline their importance to their respective sides.

And Gibbs-White is the second-highest English scorer in the Premier League with 12 – with Brighton’s Danny Welbeck on 13.

Palmer and Rogers have nine each – but the Villa man has just two in his past 16 games while five of the Chelsea forward’s goals have been penalties.

Only Foden and Bellingham have created more chances per 90 minutes than Gibbs-White’s 1.4 but the Forest player has the lowest expected assist figures.

Gibbs-White is not as involved in the box as most of the others, perhaps down to Forest’s Premier League struggles, with only Eze (3.1) having fewer touches in the box per 90 minutes than Gibbs-White’s 3.5.

He is also bottom for carries (9.6 per game) – although he has had to adapt to the tactical adjustments of four managers at the City Ground this season – while he is also last for winning the ball back at 3.1 and makes 0.6 tackles per 90 minutes.

Along with Rogers, he take the fewest shots per 90 minutes with 2.3. Chelsea’s Palmer is highest on the list with an average of three.

A late run for the World Cup – with England’s opening game against Croatia in Dallas on 17 June – can never be discounted. But there is an expectation it would take something special – plus one or two injuries – for Gibbs-White to make the plane.

‘Worth a place in the squad’

Forest signed Gibbs-White from Wolves in 2022 in a deal rising to £42.5m. Steve Cooper – who managed Gibbs-White to England’s Under-17 World Cup win – was in charge at the City Ground back then, and was a huge influence in the move.

At the time, Gibbs-White was 22 and had made just 31 starts for Wolves, so the fee raised eyebrows. But he was crucial to Forest’s Premier League survival in 2023 and then helped them to finish seventh in the Premier League last season.

This term, he is central to Forest’s battle against relegation, with Vitor Pereira’s side five points above the bottom three before the trip to Sunderland, and scored in a heroic draw at Manchester City and the crucial win at Tottenham last month.

Scott Sellars was Wolves’ technical director when Gibbs-White was sold to Forest and helped nurture the forward as a teenager – having been Under-21, Under-23 and academy manager at Molineux.

He wanted Gibbs-White to stay because he saw his potential.

“I always felt he would play for England and at youth level he compared to the best. I worked with Phil Foden at City, so I knew his level and I always felt Morgan was around that,” he said.

“His mentality and his attitude would mean he would get opportunities to play at the highest level. Anything he’s done in his career has been no surprise.

“His attitude was the first thing I saw at about 15, just his enthusiasm and how he got around the game and wanted to get on the ball. Then when he got the ball, he’d do something.”

Gibbs-White’s hat-trick against Burnley was the first time he has scored more than once in a game in more than four years, since a double while on loan at Sheffield United against Swansea in February 2022.

With 15 goals in all competitions, he is enjoying the best goalscoring season of his career and Sellars, now sporting director at Al Jazira Club, believes Gibbs-White deserves a shot at the World Cup this summer.

“When he’s played for England, his performances have been of a high quality,” he told BBC Sport.

“He’s bringing goals and at World Cup level games can be so tight, it can be on people who’ve got that quality of finish win you the game.

“I’m surprised he wasn’t in the 35 [man squad]. If you’re looking at form, I’m even more surprised.

“He probably more of a complete midfield player than a number 10. If other players are not on form, one or two injuries as well which can always happen, then I think he’s certainly worth a place in the squad.”

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