Nuno Espirito Santo explained the protocol Wolverhampton Wanderers went through to deal with Morgan Gibbs-White after he breached Government lockdown orders by going to a house party in May.
The 20-year-old’s future looked uncertain for a time after the incident last month, but the Guardian say Gibbs-White is available for selection and has been forgiven.
He was forced to undergo “self-isolation” and was tested for Covid-19 before being “re-integrated” in the first-team. Now the midfielder is ready to resume the campaign and could make the squad against West Ham on Saturday evening.
Nuno said: “(Gibbs-White) was immediately aware of the mistake he made, so I am positive it was a lesson for his life. Everybody can make mistakes and everybody wants and needs a second chance. Morgan did something that, at his age and at a normal moment, would be so natural.
“For me, it was more a lack of self-protection and protecting others than an indiscipline act. So we dealt with that. He spent a time in self-isolation and the moment he was tested negative he integrated immediately with the squad.”
The England U21 international has made 13 appearances in all competitions this season, racking up only 676 minutes of playing time. Gibbs-White has spent a lot of the campaign out with injury, in addition to falling down the pecking order, so questions were being asked if he would remain at Molineux past the summer.
Not only have Ruben Neves, Romain Saiss, Leander Dendoncker, Bruno Jordao and Joao Moutinho been preferred to Gibbs-White, Nuno is on the hunt for another midfielder too (Idrissa Gueye, Alhassan Yusuf, Emmanuel Boateng, Morgan Sanson, John McGinn, Franck Kessie, Joao Palhinha and William Carvalho), so the 20-year-old could have stiff competition next season.
