Premier league club Everton are reportedly tracking Boro’s young centre back Ben Gibson according to reports in the mirror. Everton understood to be ready to pay £4m as they prepare for life without John Stones who is subject to interest from Manchester city among others.
Middlesbrough man Gibson has had a very solid season with the promotion hopefuls and the England under 21 international has caught the eye with displays at the heart of a record breaking defence this season.
Everton is not the only club to be interested with West Brom also keen to land the starlet, but it seems Everton remain favourites to land the centre back, especially given that they looked at the possibility last season.
Publicly Everton would like to think they are well equipped to hold on to Stones and rebuffed offers in the region of £37 million from Chelsea last season but privately pressure is building and with new City manager Guardiola desperate to land a cultured defender Evertonians fear they may lose the England star.
Gibson has been one of Boro’s finest this season along with central defensive partner Danish Ayala they have kept 20 clean sheets and have the best defence in the division. It’s highly unlikely boss Aitor Karanka would consider letting him leave.
Gibson, despite being so young has already gained a vast amount of experience making 156 senior appearances at the age of 23 and is currently focused on achieving promotion back to the Premier League for Boro who incidentally is owned by his uncle Steve Gibson.