Nottingham Forest rejected me - so I made history at Man City instead

Manchester City are looking to sign a Nottingham Forest player, and they once did amazingly from signing one Forest let go

David Silva with Shaun Wright-Phillips

One of the topics of Manchester City's semi-final with Nottingham Forest this weekend will be Morgan Gibbs-White.

City will hope it is very much a side note while their opponents want him to be front and centre of deciding who makes the FA Cup Final.

It was Gibbs-White who helped to make the difference in the league game between the two last month, his brilliant crossfield ball finding Callum Hudson-Odoi and the former Chelsea forward scoring the only goal in the game to help Forest stay above City in the table.

Gibbs-White has been one of the key men in one of the stories of the season as Nuno's side look to claim an unlikely Champions League spot.

They are also gunning for FA Cup glory in what would be their first major trophy since they won the League Cup in 1990. City stand in their way this season, and are also interested in weakening them for next season by signing Gibbs-White in the summer.

Kevin De Bruyne's departure will free up a void in midfield but also lots of space on the wage bill, and Gibbs-White is one of the players seen as helping to fill both gaps. Forest are in a strong position though, especially if they finish in the top five, and it will could take the best part of £100m for City to get their man.

One of City's best ever signings came from Forest over 25 years ago, when the Blues had slumped to the third tier of English football and Forest had just been relegated from the Premier League. As both sought promotion, a 17-year-old forward found his way to Maine Road after being told he wouldn't cut it any longer at the City Ground.

"When I was at Forest, I was doing a paper round to get up there, and then went for the last trial," Shaun Wright-Phillips told his family in 2022.

"They said they were happy and on the way back, they just turned around after saying they were going to give me the contract, on the train down, they turned around and said, 'sorry we have kind of changed our mind, you're basically too small and not good enough'."

Wondering where to go next, Wright-Phillips dropped down a division to join fallen giants City and quickly developed an affinity with the club.

"When you're young and come from South London, I didn't really support anybody I just followed anybody Dad played for," he told the Manchester Evening News in 2023.

"When I got released from Forest and signed for City when they were in Division Two, to see how the fans were and then in the YTS [youth team] seeing the fans turn up to watch you train at Platt Lane I just fell in love with the club.

"I don't know how they did it but however they sat everybody at Maine Road the noise and atmosphere was electrifying. It was like every time you came onto the pitch before the start of the game you had goosebumps from the amount of noise.

"No matter how bad it was - and sometimes it was bad! - it was like a rollercoaster but no matter what the atmosphere was or who you played against it was like going down that rollercoaster hill where everybody just cheers for 90 minutes. It was insane.

"No matter how tired you were, because of the fans you always managed to get out that extra shot or run or tackle. That was Maine Road every game."

Wright-Phillips quickly became a fan favourite, adopted as if he had come through the City academy from his early years, and the exciting winger helped them win back-to-back promotions and earn their place back in the Premier League. It was there that he was reunited with Steve Wigley, who became Stuart Pearce's assistant in 2001 having been part of the academy set-up at Forest that had decided the youngster wouldn't make it.

"He was part of the Hart syndicate at Forest that released me, so all through training Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman, would run past him and be like 'bet you're devastated now, right?'" Wright-Phillips said.

"There is always to me a time that comes back around and your football does all the talking."

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Wright-Phillips let his football do the talking and in 2005 he was walking into a club record move to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea side, who had just won the Premier League.

It was a sad day for Blues but one of the most important deals the club ever struck, as without the £21m fee they may well have gone into administration and none of their subsequent success would have happened.

It didn't quite work out for Wright-Phillips at Stamford Bridge, but he endeared himself to City fans even more when he made a return to the club in 2008 and spent another three years in Manchester. While it was never a conscious effort, Wright-Phillips became a fans' favourite and remains one to this day.

"I never actually thought about it or looked at it any other way. I just tried to give something to cheer for. As a winger, that's part of the process, you want to be exciting and give people something to talk about," he told the Manchester Evening News in 2023.

"I just enjoyed that. There were a lot of times in games where I was dead but because I didn't want to let down people watching me you push yourself to that limit.

"As soon as you put on that shirt that's the standard. You go on the pitch and run your heart out no matter what.

"It doesn't matter if it goes badly, you fight for the shirt and the fans at Maine Road that's the bare minimum and that's what they love about this club."

City have Wright-Phillips to thank for a lot of their recent history, but none of it would have happened if Forest hadn't discarded the player at 17