Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White has revealed that he grew up supporting Manchester United.
The 23-year-old has been one of the Midlands side’s most pivotal and influential players across the past seasons, having moved from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a whopping £42.5 million (including add-ons) last summer.
Gibbs-White also played a key role in England’s UEFA Euro Under-21 campaign in the summer, where they were crowned winners in Georgia on July 8.
As a child, the forward seemingly got his inspiration from United’s legends and it’s no surprise as, at that time, the Reds were winning the lot. The treble, consecutive league titles… you name it, they’d done it.
Gibbs-White on United
He recently divulged to the Premier League his love for the 20-time champions – though he’ll have to keep it concealed at the City Ground – and which attackers he looked up to the most prior to becoming a professional.
“Growing up as a kid, I supported United so [Wayne] Rooney was always my favourite player,” he began. “He was the real key player in that squad, so calm and composed. He used to pick pockets, run in behind, score goals.
“Another player that I loved watching was Paul Scholes. He could pick the ball up and just zing it everywhere. He was just so calm and composed on the ball. That’s where my love for football came [from].”
Rooney is now set to join Birmingham City as their new head coach following his DC United exit, but when Gibbs-White was enjoying his loan spell at Sheffield United, the former England star was in charge of Derby County.
When the two clubs met, Forest’s No.10 couldn’t pluck up the courage to speak to his footballing hero. He told the Daily Mail in 2022: “I was too nervous to go and say hello. I grew up idolising him so to see him in the flesh was a bit like, ‘Woah’.
“As a kid I loved United and I always watched Rooney. I really enjoyed the sort of player he was: hard-working, gritty, didn’t care who was in front of him, he was going through them.”
