PL club ‘open to offers’, Celtic should swoop for 26-year-old

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Celtic are in need of central defenders this summer, and an ideal opportunity may well have arisen.

According to Mirror Football’s Live Blog (22/06, 20:41), Burnley will listen to any offers for Ben Gibson this summer and will consider loan approaches.

Gibson has rarely featured for the Clarets since making a £15 million switch (BBC Sport) from Middlesbrough last summer.

The Englishman struggled with injury problems in 2018/19, which limited him to just one Premier League appearance.

The player was recently linked with a left-field move to Besiktas, but now Boro and Sheffield Wednesday are reportedly keen.

With Celtic desperate for defensive reinforcements, Neil Lennon shouldn’t think twice about moving for the available Gibson this summer.

TBR’s view

With Dedryck Boyata departed and no developments yet on Filip Benkovic’s potential return, Kristoffer Ajer, Jozo Simunovic and flop Marvin Compper are Celtic’s only available centre-halves.

Before his Turf Moor nightmare, Gibson was one of the best defenders in the Championship.

The star is firmly behind Ben Mee and James Tarkowski in the pecking order, and he is wasted sitting on the bench.

He has the quality to be starting week-in week-out, and Parkhead could be the ideal environment for him to recapture his Boro form.

Encouragingly for the Hoops, Gibson is apparently not looking to drop back down to the Championship so move could be worth pursuing by Lennon.

With Gibson on £40,000-a-week (Spotrac), the Hoops would likely depend on Burnley paying a portion of their man’s wages for a deal to happen.