Was Ben White Worth 50 Million?
As reported earlier, Arsenal has reached an agreement in principle for Brighton star Ben White. The England international will undergo his medical at London Colney on July 26th, when he returns from his delayed holidays.
Ben White Transfer to Arsenal
Arsenal succeeded with their third bid after offers worth £40m and £47m with various add-ons were rejected.
White was a last-minute call-up to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2020 but did not feature at the major tournament for the Three Lions.
White’s first full year in the Brighton side saw him top the charts for most dribbles completed by a central l defender which was 24. With Mikel Arteta being an assistant manager to Pep Guardiola, you know he wants his defenders to be able to pass and be good with their feet which White for sure is.
In comparison with Arsenal’s current center-backs, White is head and shoulders above the rest in statistics, boasting the most appearances, interceptions per game, dribbles per game, chances created per game, and forward passes per game, with only Rob Holding competing with the Poole-born defender.
All clues point to a White and Holding partnership for Arsenal should the deal get over the line, which could prove to be a fantastic partnership for years to come as both players are looking like they are coming of age at the same time.
With only one full season in the Premier League, the value of 50 million is a huge shock to many people. After having a great successful 2019-200 season on loan at Leeds United, he was put into the starting lineup for a large majority of the games for Brighton this season and played great.
They have signed a lot of great ballplayers and a lot of great attackers but they have struggled defensively for a long time now. Under Arteta, they are rebuilding from the back. Their backline was lacking in pace last season, well they have sorted that now with Ben White.
This is a very great decision by them from building from the back because they have not had an outstanding center back since 2014 or 2015 with Per Mertesacker or Laurent Koscielny and they were not world-class center backs like Sol Campbell and Tony Adams were for Arsenal back in the day.
All in all, I think this is the perfect signing for Arsenal, but the price tag is very high for a player with not that much experience.
