Curious case of Ben Gibson and Burnley - from England squad and £15m transfer to outcast
The Sliding Doors moment for Ben Gibson came three years ago when Leicester showed interest in him as a left-sided centre-back who had broken into the England squad under Gareth Southgate.
At the moment, he is registered to Burnley’s 25-man Premier League squad but even with fears Ben Mee will miss the rest of the season with a thigh injury, Gibson is nowhere near Sean Dyche’s first team. Since January he has spent most of his time training at his former club Middlesbrough to keep fit.
It has been a dramatic, puzzling descent for a player to whom Southgate turned first when looking for a young centre-back as he started shaping his squad for the World Cup in Russia. Gibson was called up for the qualifier against Lithuania when Chris Smalling was injured, then kept his place for the summer matches one year ahead of the tournament.
During that summer, prior to the 2017-18 season, Leicester had an inquiry for Gibson turned down. They were looking for a centre-back as Robert Huth had sustained a long-term injury from which he would eventually retire.
Boro, who had been relegated back into the Championship, were determined to keep Gibson, so Leicester looked at picking off a different left-sided centre-back who had just gone down from the Premier League: Harry Maguire.
By the start of the next campaign, Maguire had replaced Gibson in Southgate’s squad for qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia, then claimed national hero status when he returned from Russia the following year.
Middlesbrough had also turned away interest from West Brom, who had just finished 10th and were willing to pay about £20 million for Gibson. But it was not until the following year, in 2018, that he was able to move when a deal with Burnley was struck for him to become their £15m joint-record signing.
According to sources, he took a pay-cut to join Dyche’s team, such was his determination to be a Premier League player again. The problem was Mee and James Tarkowski had established themselves as Dyche's first choice.
Burnley have not commented on what they call a private matter, but it is thought that Gibson had disagreements with staff and was frustrated at being able to contribute only 63 minutes of Premier League football during his time at Turf Moor. In January this year, he was given permission to train with Boro.
"Not everyone can play, we have and have had good centre-halves and he is one," Dyche said at the time. "He couldn’t find his way into the team and frustration builds off the back of that. It is just a situation where players want one thing and that doesn’t always work."
He is no longer training at Boro following the departure of Jonathan Woodgate as manager but there is little chance of him stepping in for Mee at Burnley this season. Dyche went with four youngsters and a player who had previously been on loan at Fleetwood Town on his bench against Sheffield United at the weekend.
There was tentative interest from Watford in a loan last January but there was little in it for Burnley, with wages not fully covered, no fee and the obligation-to-buy only after a number of games. It is likely he will head out on loan next season but with two years left on his current contract, his Burnley career looks virtually over.
