It Will Be Worth It

Morgan Gibbs-White talks about his recovery from injury and he reflects on an impressive break-through season.

The 17 year old suffered a hairline fracture of the foot while playing for the first team against Huddersfield but he is hopeful of returning at some point during pre-season.

Gibbs-White made his first team debut in the FA Cup win away to Stoke and made seven subsequent appearances in the Sky Bet Championship.

He says that recovering from the injury has been tough but he hopes that it will all be worth while come the start of the season.

The central midfielder began, “It’s tough, it is tough because with having a protective boot on, there's only so much I can do so it’s just like the same thing most days - it’s just stress.

“It puts a bit of a downer on everything that everyone else is on holiday and I’m in every day - I’ve seen on Snapchat that everyone's on holiday, everyone's doing this and doing that, and I’m just stuck here but it will be worth it when it comes to the pre-season and when everyone's back in.

“I’ll be fit by then and they’ll be trying to get back fit.

“I’ll maybe have a bit of a head start over all of the other boys having spent most of the summer working.

“Hopefully I can crack on at some point in pre-season and get stuck in.

“It will all be worth while in the end - I’m kind of glad that the injury happened now rather than at the beginning of the season because otherwise I wouldn't be where I am now.

The England Under 17 international admits that playing first team football has been a huge learning curve.

He feels that he has benefitted from the experience and he believes that it will stand him in good stead for the future.

“I’m loving every minute of it - my first start at Bristol City, it was a tough place to go away to but I thought I showed myself and proved myself despite the result,” he said.

“Still to this day I can describe my first team debut in words - it was the best feeling that I’ve ever had, just unbelievable.

“First team football is way more physical than I’d expected, and the way people play is a lot more clever as well.

“When you're playing ‘21s and ‘18s it feels like you're playing for the enjoyment of it or the freedom of it but when you step up to the first team it’s a lot more serious, people are more aggressive and things like that.

“I’ve learnt massively from the experience that I’ve had so far - I’ve played against seven foot defenders!

“It’s definitely improved my game in terms of knowing what to do and where to do it.

“Once I’m back fit I want to be pushing to play in the first team again.

“I will keep pushing and keep proving to everyone what I’m capable of because there's loads more to come.”

Gibbs-White also played a pivotal role in the season of the Under 23s who finished second on the Premier League 2, Division 2 table.

It was a heartbreaking end to the season for the young Wolves in the play-offs as they were controversially knocked out by West Ham at Molineux.

He says it was a cruel end to the season but that it is amazing what they achieved across the whole campaign.

Gibbs-White said, “for me the ‘23s this season has been incredible - from where we were the season before finishing bottom to finish second just a year later is amazing.

“To get knocked out of the play-offs the way we did as well was cruel, we definitely deserved to go up but that’s football for you.

“All of the lads have got a big connection, we’re a funny group of lads.

“That definitely helps, if you haven't got that chemistry or connection on the pitch then you’re just going to be moaning at each other.

“I think that’s what it is this season, we’ve got a really good bond which has pushed us through everything and got us to where we got to.

“With the lads pushing up I think it could still be the same next season.”