Transfer target profile: Ben White

Ben White, 23, with former Leeds teammate Kalvin Phillips, 25

Transfer target profile: Ben White

By Jonny Bray

The battle between Brighton and Hove Albion and Leeds United for Ben White was one of the most fascinating transfer sagas of last summer.  
Anyone who watched that season’s Championship will know that White is as big a reason why Leeds are where they are as Kalvin Phillips or Patrick Bamford.  
White spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, earning the admiration of the fans and the trust of his parent club.  
He’d been a target for Tottenham after impressing in duels against Harry Kane while on loan at Newport County in both legs of a third round FA Cup tie.  
White chose a new contract at Brighton and a loan spell at Leeds over a permanent move to Spurs, showing he has the sound mind-set necessary to succeed at the top level.  
The England international went from strength to strength, as he played in every game of Leeds’ promotion season.  
He was deployed at centre-back and in holding-midfield, scoring one league goal and producing two assists and helping keep 22 clean sheets.  
This was why he was such a key target for Leeds last summer, however, after rejecting three permanent bids for White from Leeds, the Seagulls were able to sign the 23-year-old to a new four-year contract.  
He had a successful first season in the Premier League, making 36 appearances, and has understandably garnered the attention of several top clubs.  
His recent displays for England have bolstered his reputation as a classy operator, but should he be a target for Arsenal?  


Is White better than Rob Holding? 


To look at what he’ll offer, it’s important to understand what Arsenal have.  
The centre-back who made the most appearances for Arsenal last season was Rob Holding (30).  
A comparison of the two players and their stats from last year provides a fascinating insight into what we could expect from White.  
Both players averaged 1.4 tackles per game but Holding made more clearances (4) compared to White (1.4).  
Holding (0.6 per game) was also dribbled past less than White (0.9 per game) and Holding’s 87% pass success rate was better than White’s rate of 83.2%.  
So, on paper, is White just a young Rob Holding?  
That’s no insult, but perhaps not someone worth spending more than £40 million on.  
Well, White (1.7) does make far more interceptions per game than Holding (0.8) and of course, all of this should be taken with a pinch of salt considering White was playing in a side that spent much of the season battling relegation.  
In short, he is a younger, faster, slightly more defensive minded alternative who has proven that under the right manager he has the potential to improve.  

 

White’s strengths  

 

White always looks comfortable on the ball, he made 84 accurate long passes last year, but also averaged a high 48.53 average passes per match.  
Perhaps most impressively of all, he made no errors leading to goals and scored no own goals, suggesting that he could usher a move away from the calamitous Arsenal defending we’ve been witness to over the past decade or so.  
Under Bielsa, he was happy to storm up field and win the ball back on the half-way line or even in the opposition's half, and this could offer an exciting option for Mikel Arteta. 
He has built up a reputation for spectacular goal-line clearances, and unlike Holding, he has not been tarnished by a rushed transition into a first team.  
Holding is a victim of over exposure, as young defenders often are these days, whilst White has been protected and allowed to grow at his own rate.  
For this reason, White looks more comfortable, more confident and more reliable than many of the defensive options Arsenal have. 

Rob Holding, 25

 

What are the alternatives?  

 

The number of high-quality defenders Arsenal could sign this summer is looking low.  
However, due to the European Championships this could change quite quickly.  
Tyrone Mings has shown how one performance at that level can change the narrative around a player.  
Arsenal must be careful not to be trapped by the old adage of signing a terrible player, just because they performed well at one four-week tournament.  
Arsenal could chase Edmond Tapsoba, 22, of Bayern Leverkusen.  
The defender from Burkina Faso would no doubt offer a more exciting alternative even though White may end up costing Arsenal more purely because of his nationality.   
However, there’s something about Tapsoba that is incredibly off-putting.  

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