Stoke City must regret 2024 agreement - star's £35k p/w wages are proving to be a waste | OneFootball

Stoke City signed Ben Gibson on a free transfer in the summer of 2024 from Norwich City

Stoke City completed the signing of Ben Gibson on a free transfer in the summer of 2025 following his release from Norwich City, and handed him a bumper contract to make him the club's highest earner.

Gibson spent four years playing as a regular fixture in the heart of the Canaries' back line in both the Premier League and the Championship. Having initially joined the Norfolk-based club for £8 million from Burnley, Gibson joined Stoke on a free transfer.

He was instantly handed the captain's armband, but in a more damaging move, a £35k-per-week contract, which made him the highest earner by a long way, eclipsing Sam Gallagher, the next highest earner, on £25k-per-week.

Signed under former boss Steven Schumacher, Gibson appeared to be a mainstay in the side under the current Bolton Wanderers head coach, but after just five games into the season, Schumacher was sacked and replaced by Narcis Pelach.

Pelach kept Gibson in the back line, but he himself would not last very long in the post, and by December 2024, he was also sacked, with former Coventry City boss Mark Robins coming in, and since then, the 32-year-old has found his game time limited.

On £35k-per-week, Ben Gibson is Stoke City's top earner by a significant margin

Gibson's weekly wage has comfortably made him the highest earner at Stoke, ahead of both Sam Gallagher and Steven Nzonzi on £ 25k per week.

The Potters have built somewhat of a reputation for handing players who are entering the later stages of their career large contracts, such as James Chester, Sam Vokes, and Aden Flint, to name a few.

Gibson has proven to be no different to them, as, although he would start the 2024/25 season as a mainstay in the side under both Schumacher and Pelach, he has yet to make a single league appearance since the final day of last season away at Derby.

He'd end the 2024/25 season with 24 appearances in the league in total, scoring three times, but having also scored as many own goals, having put the ball into the back of his own net against each of Queens Park Rangers, Cardiff City, and Derby County.

With the arrival of Robins, the club captain and top earner found himself out of the side, with the former Coventry boss favouring the pair of Ben Wilmot and Ashley Phillips at the heart of defence, which has continued into this season.

Gibson has yet to make a league appearance for the Potters this season, with his only appearances having come in the League Cup at home to Walsall and Bradford City, the latter of which he would only be introduced as a substitute in a 3-0 loss.

Bosun Lawal and Wilmot began the season as the first-choice pairing, starting each of Stoke's opening seven games together. However, an injury to Lawal, who spent the bulk of last season on the treatment table, has meant that Phillips has been brought back into the starting fold.

Phillips joined the Potters this summer on loan from Spurs for the second time, having enjoyed a personally successful spell at the Staffordshire-based club last season, and with Lawal injured, he has started each game since, with Gibson having to settle for a place on the bench at best.

Even with that, Stoke also have Maksym Talovierov waiting in the wings should something happen to either of them, with the six-foot-four-inch Ukrainian having finally only made his league debut in the club's 1-0 away win at Portsmouth at the weekend, where he was forced to deputise at right-back in Junior Tchamadeu's absence.

Talovierov impressed during his sixth-month stint with Plymouth Argyle in the Championship last season, and upon the Pilgrims' relegation, he was snapped up by Robins this summer to bolster his defensive options.

This has effectively left Gibson as the fifth-choice centre-back option at best, and unless the Potters undergo a major injury crisis at the heart of their defence, it is unlikely that the Middlesbrough academy product will force his way into the side this season.

Having signed a three-year deal, Gibson is under contract until the summer of 2027, meaning, unless he is willing to take a pay cut, the Potters are stuck with him until at least then, by the time he will be 34.