Shropshire Star

Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White poised for Swansea loan switch

Wolves midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White is poised to join Swansea on a season-long loan.

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The 20-year-old is being allowed out to get more regular playing time after a campaign where the majority of his 16 appearances were as a substitute.

Gibbs-White will be reunited with former England youth boss Steve Cooper at the Liberty Stadium, under whom he won the Under-17 World Cup three years ago.

The Stafford-born ace was tipped for big things after signing a four-and-a-half year deal with Wolves in early 2018 but has struggled to establish himself since the club won promotion to the Premier League.

Gibbs-White’s 69 career appearances to date have included only 21 starts, the last of which came in February’s 3-2 Europa League defeat at Espanyol. His last Premier League start was 12 months ago in a 1-1 home draw with Burnley, as he was hampered by a back injury for much of the campaign.

In May, Gibbs-White was forced to train on his own for two weeks after being spotted partying with Love Island contestants in London during lockdown.

Wolves hope a season away at Swansea will help his development and he is the latest member of Cooper’s victorious World Cup squad to move to south Wales.

Cooper also signed Rhian Brewster and Marc Guehi on loan last season as the Swans reached the Championship play-offs.

Brewster’s loan in particular was a huge success as the Liverpool striker netted 11 goals during the second half of the season.

Elsewhere, midfielder Connor Ronan and striker Renat Dadashov have joined Grasshoppers Zurich on loan.

The Swiss club were bought earlier this year by a Hong Kong-firm owned by Jenny Wang, the wife of Fosun owner Guo Guangchang. Former Wolves board member Sky Sun is now Grasshoppers president.

Meanwhile, reported Wolves transfer target Joao Palhinha has been left out of Sporting Lisbon’s pre-season trip to the Algarve.

Palhinha, 25, has been heavily linked with Wolves after an impressive loan period with Sporting’s Portuguese rivals Braga, including playing against Wolves in the early stages of the Europa League last season.