Stoke have reportedly decided to test the waters with a £12m bid for Middlesbrough defender, Ben Gibson.

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Arsenal have been linked with Gibson for a while but it was always claimed that the Gunners would have to fork out somewhere in the region of £30m for the Boro centre-back.

Therefore, Stoke’s alleged bid of £12m appears to just be testing the water.

Boro are keen to keep hold of Gibson, who’s not just the nephew of their owner, Steve Gibson, but was one of their key players last season. In fact, he didn’t miss a minute of Premier League football.

With Boro getting relegated to the Championship, it appears that numerous Premier League clubs are waiting in the wings to sign the 24-year-old, who still has four years left on his current deal in the north east.

While Gibson has kept pretty quiet about the rumours that he could be leaving this summer, it’s been suggested that the Englishman would welcome a move in a bid to get noticed for next year’s World Cup.