Tottenham Hotspur are set to receive yet another transfer blow just hours after it emerged that Morgan Gibbs-White had signed a new contract at Nottingham Forest.
It emerged on Saturday that Gibbs-White had agreed a new deal with Forest, which came as a massive setback to Tottenham Hotspur, who had worked on the deal for the last two and a half weeks after activating the midfielder’s release clause.
Before the development, it had been reported that Spurs were confident of getting the Gibbs-White deal over the line. The North London club’s confidence might have led to them abandoning their pursuit of a Dutch attacking midfielder.
Prior to the Gibbs-White saga, Spurs had been installed as the favourites to land Xavi Simons. In fact, some sources even claimed that Tottenham had spoken to Simon’s agent about a move to N17.
Tottenham set to miss out on Xavi Simons
However, Spurs may have halted their pursuit of the RB Leipzig star after pushing ahead with a move for the Nottingham Forest man, and that has allowed their London rivals to advance on a deal for the Netherlands international.
According to various journalists, including Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are now holding ‘advanced talks’ over Simons, with negotiations between the parties said to be progressing well.
🚨🔵 Understand Chelsea and RB Leipzig are now in advanced talks for Xavi Simons.
Negotiations club to club progressing well, still work to do but heading positive direction.
Xavi, keen on Chelsea project with personal terms talks also advanced. pic.twitter.com/0nvfFWSyww
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 26, 2025
Meanwhile, Sebastien Vidal has asserted that the Blues are now ‘closing in’ on Simons, adding that the young attacking midfielder is keen on completing a move to Stamford Bridge.
Bayern Munich will miss out on Xavi Simons as Chelsea close in on the RB Leipzig star.
Talks between Chelsea & Leipzig are advanced and personal terms are progressing : Simons is keen on the Blues’ project. #CFC #FCBayern #Simons
— Sébastien Vidal (@SebEcrivainFoot) July 26, 2025
Spurs fans will be livid with the club’s inaction
Over the past week, Spurs fans have been calling for the club to abandon their pursuit of Gibbs-White and pursue other alternatives.
However, Tottenham kept persisting with the deal in the hope they could get it over the line, partly driven by the fact that Thomas Frank is a huge fan of Gibbs-White.
The Lilywhites’ error in judgment now means that they could also end up missing out on Simons, who appears to be on his way to Stamford Bridge.
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