Ben Gibson has made it clear that he wants to escape his Burnley nightmare this summer amid reports linking the £15 million defender with Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough, while speaking to the BBC’s Boro Podcast.
Three years after his stellar Premier League performances earned him a call-up for Gareth Southgate’s England squad, the 27-year-old cannot buy a game at Turf Moor.
Two years after becoming Burnley’s record signing, Gibson has made a grand total of one top-flight appearance under Sean Dyche – and that lasted just 63 minutes as Everton wrecked the Claret’s Christmas spirit during a 5-1 shellacking.
These days, the £40,000-a-week misfit is stuck behind Ben Mee, James Tarkowski and Kevin Long in the pecking order.
So it is no surprise that he has his heart set on securing a fresh start before the window slams shut.
“It’s probably no secret that I want to get out and play football and have been itching to do so since I signed for Burnley,” Gibson says.
“I’ll have to see what the next few weeks bring. Obviously I want to play football, that’s clear as day, but for now I just sit tight and see what happens.”
Teesside Live reports that Middlesbrough would love to sign their former captain on loan, with Gibson exactly the kind of commanding, no-nonsense centre-half who tends to epitomise a Neil Warnock side.
But Burnley would rather get rid of their forgotten man on a permanent basis.
The Mail claims that Gibson could be offered to Nottingham Forest as part of a £4 million player-plus-cash deal which would see Joe Worrall move in the other direction.
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