Middlesbrough defender Gibson completes record-equalling £15m move to Burnley

Ben Gibson has completed his club-record equalling £15m move to Turf Moor.
Ben Gibson. Picture: Andy FordBen Gibson. Picture: Andy Ford
Ben Gibson. Picture: Andy Ford

The Middlesbrough centre back didn’t travel to Millwall yesterday for Boro’s first Championship game of the season, after Burnley agreed a fee on Friday.

And the 25-year-old agreed a four-year contract after passing a medical.

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The fee matches that paid to Leeds United for striker Chris Wood last summer, and, it means, twenty years since a centre back from the north east became the club’s record signing, in Steve David, another centre back from that region commands a record fee - twenty times as expensive!

Boro boss Tony Pulis confirmed after the 2-2 draw at The Den: “He's going, it's agreed, it's done and we want to thank Ben, an absolutely fantastic professional. “In the six months I've had at this football club he's as good a professional as I've ever worked with and I spoke to Sean Dyche and Dychey's got a real, top, top player.”

He added: “I think it'll go through over the weekend, I think it's all done, I think everybody has agreed it and it's just a case of him doing his medical and then that will be it.”

Burnley went in with offers of £11m and £13m before getting their man. Middlesbrough-born Gibson, nephew of chairman Steve, came through the Boro Academy, and worked his way into the senior England squad last June, featuring on the bench against France in Paris - in a game where Tom Heaton started for the Three Lions.