Sunday’s hat-trick against Burnley was a reminder that the Nottingham Forest man may 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 friendlies against Japan and Uruguay.
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But he is the man in form with eight goals in his last 13 games. Since the beginning of March, no player has scored more in the Premier League than Gibbs-White’s six.
Forest visit Sunderland in the Premier League on Friday; So, with 54 days until England’s first World Cup match, will the 26-year-old be late for the team?
Gibbs-White is valued throughout the England set-up, not just by Tuchel, given his achievements within the youth system.
He won the U-17 World Cup in 2017 and the European Championship with Lee Carsley’s U-21 team three years ago.
However, Gibbs-White is still a little way down Tuchel’s pecking order.
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He last played for the Three Lions in the 3-0 win over Wales in October, having played 12 minutes in the World Cup qualifier against Andorra in September.
In his six caps, he has played just 89 minutes after Carsley handed him his debut as a second-half substitute against the Republic of Ireland in September 2024.
But Tuchel has yet to fully trust Gibbs-White, even as others struggle 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 fight to be England’s number 10.
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Gibbs-White (2,819) and Aston Villa’s Rogers (2,925) have played the most minutes this season among the number 10 contenders (over a thousand more than Palmer) to underline their importance to their respective teams.
And Gibbs-White is the second-highest English scorer in the Premier League with 12, alongside Brighton’s Danny Welbeck with 13.
Palmer and Rogers have nine each, but the Villa man has just two in his last 16 games, while five of the Chelsea striker’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.
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Gibbs-White is not as involved in the box as most others, perhaps due to Forest’s problems in the Premier League, with only Eze (3.1) having fewer touches in the box per 90 minutes than Gibbs-White’s 3.5.
He is also last in carries (9.6 per game), although he has had to adapt to the tactical adjustments of four coaches at the City Ground this season, while he is also last in ball recoveries with 3.1 and makes 0.6 tackles per 90 minutes.
Along with Rogers, he takes the fewest shots per 90 minutes at 2.3. Chelsea’s Palmer is top of the list with an average of three.
A late arrival at the World Cup can never be ruled out, with England’s opening match against Croatia in Dallas on June 17. But there is an expectation that it will take something special (plus an injury or two) for Gibbs-White to build the plane.
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“Worth a place on the team”
Forest signed Gibbs-White from Wolves in 2022 in a deal worth £42.5m. Steve Cooper, who coached Gibbs-White to England’s Under-17 World Cup victory, was in charge of the City Ground at the time and had a huge influence on the movement.
At the time, Gibbs-White was 22 years old and had only made 31 starts for the Wolves, so the fee raised eyebrows. But he was crucial to Forest’s survival in the Premier League in 2023 and then helped them finish seventh in the Premier League last season.
This season, he is pivotal in Forest’s battle against relegation, with Vitor Pereira’s side five points clear of the bottom three heading into the trip to Sunderland, and scored in a heroic draw at Manchester City and the crucial win at Tottenham last month.
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Scott Sellars was Wolves’ manager when Gibbs-White was sold to Forest and helped develop the striker as a teenager, having been under-21, under-23 and academy director 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 was compared to the best. I worked with Phil Foden at City so I knew his level and I always felt Morgan was close to that,” he said.
“His mentality and attitude would mean he would have opportunities to play at the highest level. Everything he has done in his career has not been a surprise.
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“His attitude was the first thing I saw when he was 15, just his enthusiasm and how he moved in the game and wanted to get the ball. Then when he had it, he would do something.”
Gibbs-White’s hat-trick against Burnley was the first time he has scored more than once in a match in more than four years, since a brace while on loan at Sheffield United against Swansea in February 2022.
With 15 goals in all competitions, he is enjoying the best scoring season of his career and Sellars, now sporting director of Al Jazira Club, believes Gibbs-White deserves a chance at the World Cup this summer.
“When he played for England, his performances were of great quality,” he told BBC Sport.
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“He is contributing goals and, at World Cup level, the games can be so close that people who have that finishing quality can win the game.”
“I’m surprised he wasn’t in the 35-man (team). If you look at the form, I’m even more surprised.
“He is probably more of a complete midfielder than a number 10. If other players are not fit, or one or two injuries may also occur, then I think he certainly deserves a place in the team.”