AITOR KARANKA expects Ben Gibson to become a full England international in the not-too-distant future, and the Middlesbrough head coach accepts he will face a difficult battle to hold on to the centre-half in the face of mounting interest from some of the leading clubs in the country.

Chelsea were the latest team to be heavily linked with Gibson this week, with the current Premier League leaders understood to be lining up the 23-year-old as their preferred long-term replacement for John Terry.

Terry is expected to make a lucrative move to China when his current Chelsea contract expires at the end of the season, and having scouted Gibson for the last two years, the Blues are set to make a formal move for the Boro defender in the summer transfer window.

Karanka does not want to lose Gibson, and Boro’s hopes of holding on to one of their leading assets should be strengthened by the fact that his uncle, Steve, is in charge of the purse strings at the Riverside.

However, if Gibson continues to progress at the rate of development that has seen him start every one of Boro’s league matches this season, it could prove impossible to stop him moving on to one of the Premier League’s biggest teams.

“It is always important to keep a player like Gibbo from the academy, from the city, who knows everything here,” said Karanka, who has paired the Teessider with Calum Chambers at the heart of Boro’s back four this season. “It is a good example for the academy players.

“I would like to keep him here all his career, but football is football. The main thing for him, if he wants to grow and improve, is to forget everything, to know that if he is not playing well, the following day he will go to the bench or the stand. That is the only way to improve - playing 100 per cent every day.”

Gibson will continue in the starting line-up when Boro visit Watford this afternoon, although he is likely to have Bernardo Espinosa playing alongside him, with Chambers replacing the injured Antonio Barragan at right-back.

Having successfully established himself in the Premier League, his next step is likely to take him into the full England squad, with Karanka confident it will not be too long before he is a regular in Gareth Southgate’s senior group.

Gibson was touted for an England call-up last autumn, only for Southgate to select Burnley’s Michael Keane instead, but with Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka coming towards the end of their international careers, the Boro centre-half would appear to be the logical next port of call if changes are required ahead of next year’s World Cup in Russia.

Southgate regularly selected Gibson at Under-21 level – the Teessider started all of England’s game at the last European Under-21 Championships – and has already visited the Riverside on a number of occasions this season to watch the defender at first hand.

“He (Gibson) can get to the very top,” said Karanka. “He can be there. If you look at the national team, the central defenders are Cahill, Stones, Jagielka. Cahill is 31, Jagielka is 33. There is (Chris) Smalling at Manchester United and Keane at Burnley, but you can’t find a lot of young central defenders.

“So for sure, he can become a national-team player. He can be a top-team central defender, if he keeps doing the same things.

“But if he thinks he is in an international team (already) or playing for a top team, or if he thinks he is as good as people say, then he can make a big mistake. To play in the top teams is all about hard work.”

Boro’s defensive options were reduced this week when Daniel Ayala failed to win an appeal against his red card in Sunday’s FA Cup victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

Ayala will have to serve a three-match ban after an independent disciplinary committee upheld referee David Coote’s decision to dismiss the Spaniard for serious foul play, with Karanka having recalled Dael Fry from a loan spell at Rotherham to help plug the defensive gaps in his squad.

“It (the failed appeal) was disappointing because with Barragan injured, it is another defender who we have lost,” said the Boro head coach. “We can understand his frustration. He was an important player in the team last season, but now he has not been playing as often.

“When you play in that situation, sometimes you feel like you have to show that you want to play again and you can make those mistakes.

“He will miss the next three games, although at the moment, we are covered. I think we have enough players. We have Bernardo, we have Gibbo, we have Chambers, and we brought Dael Fry in again. We have enough players there.”