Burnley are willing to pay £4 million for Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall while Ben Gibson is expected to head to the City Ground as part of a player-plus-cash deal, according to the Mail.
Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
If Forest agree to their terms, Burnley will not only sign a talented young centre-half who Sean Dyche has admired since late-2017, they will also get a £40,000-a-week bench-warmer off the wage bill at long last.
Gibson has played just 63 minutes of Premier League football since becoming the Clarets’ £15 million record signing two years ago, and all of those came in a 5-1 home thumping at the hands of Everton.
But the former Middlesbrough captain has a superb track record at Championship level, leading the north East outfit to promotion in 2016/17 before earning a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
Then again, Nottingham Forest might have a few reservations about essentially swapping Gibson for academy graduate turned first-team star Worrall, even if they will receive £4 million as part of the deal.
Worrall started every one of Forest’s 46 Championship games last season and, while he is yet to convince each and every member of the City Ground fanbase, no one can doubt the 23-year-old’s importance on and off the pitch.
The Sun (17 August, page 58) reported that Worrall wanted assurances that he would be a key part of Dyche’s first XI at Burnley.
But with Ben Mee and James Tarkowski establishing themselves as one of the Premier League’s most reliable defensive partnerships, he would have a major challenge ahead of him in Lancashire.
Forest, however, are understood to want more than £4 million. There is a lot of work to be done here.
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