As Morgan Gibbs-White sat dejected on the Wembley grass, the chance for a first major trophy began to fade away, Pep Guardiola deliberately headed towards the Nottingham Forest playmaker.

Throughout his tenure in England, Guardiola’s sideline conversations with rival players have frequently sparked interest, and as the cameras followed, the Manchester City manager approached Gibbs-White shortly after Forest’s loss in the FA Cup semi-final on April 27.

There was a handshake, a hug and a word in the ear for the England international. It is understood Guardiola also spoke to Gibbs-White in the tunnel.

Gibbs-White remains a Forest player, while City has since invested £100million in Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki instead. Despite all the efforts made, City ultimately decided not to pursue a move for Gibbs-White.

There are suggestions they baulked at Forest’s asking price of at least £70m. And with the Club World Cup around the corner, City needed reinforcements quickly;  negotiations with Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis were unlikely to run smoothly. 

Pep Guardiola’s quiet word with Morgan Gibbs-White – in front of the TV cameras – was seen as a strong indicator his Nottingham Forest career was coming to an end

But Manchester City pivoted away from Gibbs-White, and now he is in limbo with two years left on his Forest contract

Gibbs-White is Forest’s talisman and they are under no financial pressure to sell this summer

Forest, back in Europe for the first time in 29 years, are under no financial pressure to sell players and their PSR position is strong.

So as City opened their Club World Cup campaign against Wydad Casablanca, Gibbs-White was busy planning a wedding, after the Forest star proposed to long-term partner Britney de Villiers beside Lake Como this week.

Where Gibbs-White will be playing when the pair eventually marry is uncertain.

If Forest are to sell Gibbs-White, they want to bring in their record fee by some margin. Brennan Johnson cost Tottenham nearly £50m when he moved to north London two years ago and Marinakis expects far more than that for Gibbs-White.

Then there is the premium on homegrown players with Premier League experience. Reijnders, who turns 27 in July, has 23 caps for the Netherlands and has played in the Champions League.

Though the 21-year-old Cherki is four years younger than Gibbs-White, he is already closing in on 200 senior appearances at club level, while Gibbs-White has only recently broken 250.

A maximum of £100m for Reijnders and Cherki versus a minimum £70m for Gibbs-White. It is easy to see why the former option was so attractive.

Yet neither Reijnders nor Cherki is proven in the English top flight, the most intense and athletic competition of Europe’s top five leagues. Gibbs-White has 154 Premier League appearances, registering 18 goals and 28 assists. In his three seasons with Forest, he has missed only six league games.

Gibbs-White is a proven Premier League commodity, having produced goals and assists and a durability in the most athletic of Europe’s top five leagues

City splashed £100million on Tijjani Reijnders (left) and Rayan Cherki rather than £70m on Gibbs-White

That is why Forest can afford to stick closely to their valuation.

It is thought Gibbs-White would still be open to joining City, where he would link up with close friend Phil Foden, as well as working with Guardiola and fighting for trophies. It now remains to be seen whether he reappears on City’s radar as the summer progresses, or whether that route is closed for now.

When Gibbs-White joined Forest for an initial £25m in 2022, it raised plenty of eyebrows – but the transfer has paid off spectacularly for both.

Gibbs-White was handed the No 10 shirt and the platform to show he could become an established Premier League player. Thanks partly to his performances, Forest have evolved from relegation battlers into a club who spent much of last season in the top four and qualified for European football for the first time this century.

Now comes the tricky part. Gibbs-White has two years remaining on a contract worth about £60,000 per week and has shown little inclination to discuss a new one. While Forest deny that Gibbs-White has ever directly rejected a contract offer, the idea they have made no effort to tie him down is absurd. Of course they have.

Forest were uncomfortable with the interactions between Guardiola and Gibbs-White at Wembley but there has never been any doubt about the playmaker’s professionalism.

Thanks to the advice of key figures at the club, Gibbs-White has matured hugely in the last 18 months and is central to the excellent team spirit fostered under Nuno Espirito Santo.

Win, lose or draw, Gibbs-White would often be the player setting the tone for his colleagues, ensuring they did not rest on their laurels or that morale did not drop too low after a poor result. Along with Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ola Aina, Nuno believes Gibbs-White is one of the most important personalities in the group.

The 25-year-old is planning his wedding this summer after proposing to Britney de Villiers at Lake Como last week

He is a crucial figure in Nuno Espirito Santo’s dressing room, and was a key player in securing Forest’s return to European football for the first time since 1996

Forest will have made an effort to tie Gibbs-White down to a new deal, but he has shown little desire to commit to them yet

There is no immediate pressure to sell. Though a key first-teamer will doubtless leave this summer, that does not have to be Gibbs-White.

Newcastle have a long-standing interest in Elanga while Brazil centre back Murillo has suitors across the continent, including at Real Madrid. Hudson-Odoi, signed for just £3m, would generate a handy profit.

If his dream of Champions League football vanishes for now, can Gibbs-White retain the sort of focus on Forest that he managed last season? The fact it will soon be a World Cup year would surely mean he does.

The admiration for Gibbs-White is not confined to City. Liverpool looked closely at him as they planned how to reconfigure their midfield, though the imminent British-record £116m capture of Florian Wirtz appears to have solved that puzzle.

Then there is Tottenham. With a Champions League campaign to prepare for, Spurs are looking for reinforcements and have dealt successfully with Forest before, when they brought in Johnson.

The Wales star sealed Spurs’ Champions League spot with the winner in the Europa League final against Manchester United.

While Spurs and chairman Daniel Levy have often been reluctant to pay elevated transfer fees, they will do so for those they really want. Dominic Solanke cost £65m from Bournemouth 10 months ago, and he is more than two years older than Gibbs-White.

Yet Gibbs-White is smart enough not to focus only on changing clubs. He was one of the few positive notes of England’s 3-1 defeat by Senegal in a friendly on his home ground, and will be desperate to hold on to his international spot ahead of next summer’s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

He was one of the few bright spots in the 3-1 defeat by Senegal at the City Ground this month

But he faces a battle to retain his spot and add to his four England caps, with a wealth of attacking talent at Thomas Tuchel’s disposal

The best way to stay in Tuchel’s thoughts will be to play regularly and well for whichever club he plays for this season

The best way to do so is to perform well regularly for his club – and if Gibbs-White stays at Forest, he will remain an automatic starter for Nuno.

If City do not return and no other club comes in for him, Gibbs-White is still in a strong position. In a year’s time, he will have only 12 months remaining on his deal, meaning Forest will have to sell or risk losing him for free the following summer.

If he does decide to commit to a new deal, Gibbs-White would likely become the club’s highest-paid player.

And new contract or no new contract, clubs would still chase Gibbs-White next year if he produces another campaign like the last one.