Why Burnley loaning out Ben Gibson is the right move by Sean Dyche

Burnley have offloaded out-of-favour star Ben Gibson on loan to Norwich City, according to BBC. The defender is said to have had a fallout with Sean Dyche’s assistant over game time and failed transfer related issues.

The row seemed to have broken out earlier this year when Sean Dyche cleared the air regarding the matter. The player wanted a move from the club because he failed to break into the first-team and made just the 5 appearances in the 2018-19 season.

Sean Dyche said that no suitable offers were received for Gibson in the 2020 January transfer window, which led to the player training with Middlesbrough. The manager refused to divulge more details on the matter and held up the club’s statement on the matter (source – DailyMail).

Profile

Ben Gibson is a 27-year-old English centre-back who is currently contracted to Burnley. He started his career at Middlesbrough in 2011 and had a string of loan moves to Plymouth Argyle, York City and Tranmere Rovers in the following years.

It wasn’t until 2013 that he cemented his place in the Boro backline. He went on to make 183 appearances for the club before Burnley came calling in 2018. With just the one Premier League appearance in two years, Gibson started to look for a way out of the club.

Why parting ways is ideal for both club and player

Ben Gibson was a mainstay in the Middlesbrough defence until he made the move to Burnley. James Tarkowski and Ben Mee have been stellar over the last couple of years and this has led to Gibson warming the benches.

At 27, he is in his prime years as a centre-back. He should be playing week in week out instead of wasting his time at a club who already have two solid centre-halves. Burnley could also use the money from his sale and invest in a replacement for Jeff Hendrick, who signed for Newcastle on a free transfer after his contract expired (source – The Sun).

Verdict

There was no point in keeping a player who was frozen out of the squad and the club have done well to send him out on loan. The transfer makes sense for everyone as Gibson gets to start afresh and Burnley have another year to decide about his future.

Ben Gibson proved himself during his days in the Championship and the stage might be right for him to do so once again, this time at Norwich City.