Tottenham are set to rival Chelsea and Arsenal in their chase of Middlesbrough defender Ben Gibson. The centre-back is highly rated and he is set to spark a tug-of-war between a host of clubs including Liverpool. The 24-year-old has been really good despite Middlesbrough’s struggles this season and with only 6 games remaining, the club’s relegation might lead in Boro losing their prized asset. The Englishman is estimated to cost around £25million for his services but with numerous clubs competing for him, the price might rise to somewhere around £30million.
Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen has done a wonderful job this season for Tottenham at the back. Eric Dier too has settled quite well along with the Belgian duo but Tottenham have failed to adequately replace the centre-back when they have been injured which has fueled the need of a dependable centre-back in his absence. Kevin Wimmer has rarely featured this season and when he has, he has failed to impress, often making errors which have proved to be too costly.
Mauricio Pochettino will be competing at the top level next season and if he wants to challenge for the title then he must have decent backup centre-back in case any of three first choice falls prey to injury and Ben Gibson absolutely fits the bill of a young and hungry player.
A player like Gibson is likely to add to the centre-back competition at the club which might push the other centre-backs and Tottenham can give their first team defenders a bit of a breather in easy games without having to fear about a great decline in quality of defending at the back. In addition, Pochettino would also like to protect Vertonghen and Alderweireld for the big games without having to change the three at the back formations which has worked really well for this season.
Despite Middlesbrough battling relegation, their defensive record has been quite impressive this season and have the fifth best defensive record of any club in the Premier League. If Middlesbrough successfully fends off relegation, which seems unlikely, then they’ll probably be able to keep hold of player given he is also the nephew of Boro chairman Steve Gibson.
With other top clubs are in a dire need of a centre-back it might turn out to be really difficult in the summer to convince Gibson to play for the North London outfit especially when they might not be able to offer him a regular first team spot. That said, if Tottenham managed to lure the defender, they can finally compete at the very top of the Premier League once again.