COOP: I’D HAVE PAID EVEN MOR FOR GIBBO

NOTTINGHAM FOREST boss Steve Cooper says he would not have minded if the club had paid twice what they did for Morgan Gibbs-white.

Cooper believes in the forward so much, that he is convinced he can become a top Premier League player.

Gibbs-white joined Forest in August for a combined fee of £42million from Wolves – £25m, plus £17m in add-ons.

And Cooper knows him well as Gibbs-white was part of his England Under-17 World Cup winning squad.

The Welshman (right) also had him on loan when he was Swansea manager.

Now he wants the 22-year-old to build on his season with Forest, where he is helping to lift them away from the drop zone.

The Reds travel to Bournemouth today looking to make it three Premier League wins in a row as Cooper’s side edge towards mid-table safety.

And he said neither he or Gibbs-white has let the transfer fee affect them.

“I don’t think about those figures – if we’d paid double that, I wouldn’t have been thinking about that either,” said Cooper. “It would have been nice if we could have paid half that though wouldn’t it!”

Cooper says Gibbs-white (above) is not the only player to make a big-money move after starring in the Championship.

He added: “Morgan was arguably one of the best players in the Championship last season when he was on loan at Sheffield United.

“And he’s not the first player of that age to go from playing in the Championship to the Premier League for that sort of fee.

“It’s not new territory, is it? So the fee hasn’t affected him at all.

“What I’m more focused on is putting on the right sessions for players like Morgan – and I include all of the younger players, too.

“I want them driving out of training thinking, ‘I’ve worked hard today, I pushed myself, the staff pushed me, and I’m in a better place than I was when I came in’.”

Cooper could give a debut to Brazilian midfielder Danilo, 21, who signed this week from Palmeiras despite interest from Manchester United and Arsenal. He added: “I hope he’s a coup.”