Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson has been linked with a summer move to Southampton.
According to a report in the Sun, Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson has been linked with a £20 million switch to Southampton and that is a deal the Teesside club would be mad to turn down should an offer arrive.
The 25-year-old has established himself as a key player for Boro, playing a total of 47 Championship matches this past season including the two play-off semi-final encounters against Aston Villa.
Gibson has previously been linked with a move back to the Premier League, yet he has strong ties with Boro and opted to remain at the Riverside Stadium in a bid to try to help the club secure an immediate return.
Unfortunately for him and Boro, Tony Pulis’s men fell short in the play-offs and now it appears Gibson could be at the top of the list in terms of players likely to depart the club this summer.
But for £20 million, it is a figure which could make a huge difference to Boro and no matter how good Gibson has performed this past season, that sort of money could be spent to improve the overall starting eleven.
Boro boss Tony Pulis has done a great job in making Boro formidable again from a defensive point of view, and the former West Bromwich Albion boss would not need to spend big bucks in keeping them tight at the back.
In fact, Ryan Shotton could come inside and with a new right-back addition such as Rangers’ James Tavernier, Boro wouldn’t be weakened much and they would still have plenty of funds left over.
Pulis has more pressing areas to strengthen this summer, notably more creativity through the middle and another wide player to ease the attacking burden on former Barcelona product Adama Traore.
Boro are not too far away from having a Championship promotion team and selling Gibson for a hefty fee could give them the Financial Fair Play leeway to seriously strengthen other areas to help push them over the line.
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