Ben White | Arsenal

I'm happy with the purchase of White. Is £50M expensive, damn right it is, but what you are doing here is paying for the player you think he can become.

Young, English born, ball playing defender. That comes with a premium right away. If anyone has watched us play out from the back at times last season, then you wouldn't argue we need a big improvement there, especially without Luiz. Considering how important Maguire is in this regard for Utd & England, I thought Utd fans would understand. He doesn't seem to come with the same mistakes as Luiz though, I seen a stat that says in his 80+ Games for Leeds & Brighton, he hasn't made an error that has led to a shot on target, while in the same time Luiz has made 4.

Everyone that talks about him in the game have nothing but praise for him. Former coaches, current coaches love him. I've heard guys like Townsend on Talksport say he was brilliant when he played against him, guys like Kalvin Phillips & Foden say he's the player that has surprised them the most in the England squad.

In saying that he's not perfect. The main weakness he has just now is his aerial duels, & let's be honest, if he was a bit taller with a better % at that, he'd likely be going to Utd, City or Chelsea rather than Arsenal in our present state.

It's also silly to compare the transfer to Varane. Both are at different stages, & so are both clubs. It's not like Arsenal have the choice of Varane. Utd need a world class defender to take them to the next level, Arsenal need a younger guy from who they can build a new team with.

I agree with the others on the Saliba situation, did we actually need White, when perhaps we could have given him the chance? Don't we have other positions of priority to fill? As long as the purchase doesn't stop us from buying a new partner for Partey & a new attacking midfielder, then I can't really complain.
 
GoonerBear said:
I'm happy with the purchase of White. Is £50M expensive, damn right it is, but what you are doing here is paying for the player you think he can become.

Young, English born, ball playing defender. That comes with a premium right away. If anyone has watched us play out from the back at times last season, then you wouldn't argue we need a big improvement there, especially without Luiz. Considering how important Maguire is in this regard for Utd & England, I thought Utd fans would understand. He doesn't seem to come with the same mistakes as Luiz though, I seen a stat that says in his 80+ Games for Leeds & Brighton, he hasn't made an error that has led to a shot on target, while in the same time Luiz has made 4.

Everyone that talks about him in the game have nothing but praise for him. Former coaches, current coaches love him. I've heard guys like Townsend on Talksport say he was brilliant when he played against him, guys like Kalvin Phillips & Foden say he's the player that has surprised them the most in the England squad.

In saying that he's not perfect. The main weakness he has just now is his aerial duels, & let's be honest, if he was a bit taller with a better % at that, he'd likely be going to Utd, City or Chelsea rather than Arsenal in our present state.

It's also silly to compare the transfer to Varane. Both are at different stages, & so are both clubs. It's not like Arsenal have the choice of Varane. Utd need a world class defender to take them to the next level, Arsenal need a younger guy from who they can build a new team with.

I agree with the others on the Saliba situation, did we actually need White, when perhaps we could have given him the chance? Don't we have other positions of priority to fill? As long as the purchase doesn't stop us from buying a new partner for Partey & a new attacking midfielder, then I can't really complain.
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Uh... Watch the Rashford goal against Brighton. He sits White down and makes him look silly

 
I personally think he will surprise people and turn out to be a good signing. He’s a pretty classy player but I can see why some don’t like him because he’s not the all action physical type of CB that so many people love. He reads the game well though and has good ball playing ability, I wouldn’t have been disappointed to see him at Utd.
 
Some of the comments in here regarding the fee are a tad hypocritical coming from a fanbase that regularly dismiss critique of recent defensive purchases when based simply on their price tag.

Arsenal have got a highly rated English youngster who in isolation won’t transform them but could be a cog in a good defence in the future.

I fecking hate Arsenal but comparing the price we could pay for Varane is a tad disingenuous.

Good signing [potentially].
 
Ekeke said:
Uh... Watch the Rashford goal against Brighton. He sits White down and makes him look silly

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Im not sure what part of that highlighted section I have wrong? Would that be classed as an error leading to a goal....no. Is it good defending.....no. But then again too forward can sometimes make good defenders look silly, seen Torres make Vidic look silly on a few occasions.

Think both of these would be classed as errors leading to shots....doesnt mean he's not a top defender.

 
GoonerBear said:
Im not sure what part of that highlighted section I have wrong? Would that be classed as an error leading to a goal....no. Is it good defending.....no. But then again too forward can sometimes make good defenders look silly, seen Torres make Vidic look silly on a few occasions.

Think both of these would be classed as errors leading to shots....doesnt mean he's not a top defender.

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The point is he has clearly made mistakes leading to shots, or even goals against his team. You barely even have to look, especially on here, it was the most noteworthy part of the Brighton match because of all the hype over White and Lamptey and they were both exposed by Bruno and Rashford. Yes, he made several errors there leading to the goal.
 
Ekeke said:
The point is he has clearly made mistakes leading to shots, or even goals against his team. You barely even have to look, especially on here, it was the most noteworthy part of the Brighton match because of all the hype over White and Lamptey and they were both exposed by Bruno and Rashford. Yes, he made several errors there leading to the goal.
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Well I'm sorry mate, take it up with the stats guys that classify what is & what isn't seen as an error. I don't make the rules.

Someone like Xhaka would certainly like it to be reviewed.

Edit: Found the article that mentions it.

Another crucial difference with Luiz, the man he will be replacing at Arsenal, is that he rarely makes mistakes.

In fact, in 82 league appearances for Brighton and Leeds over the last two seasons, White has not made a single error leading to an opposition shot, according to Opta. Luiz, by contrast, has made four in 53 appearances in the same time frame.

https://www.skysports.com/transfer/...an-add-a-new-dimension-for-mikel-artetas-side
 
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AFC NimbleThumb said:
Some of the comments in here regarding the fee are a tad hypocritical coming from a fanbase that regularly dismiss critique of recent defensive purchases when based simply on their price tag.

Arsenal have got a highly rated English youngster who in isolation won’t transform them but could be a cog in a good defence in the future.

I fecking hate Arsenal but comparing the price we could pay for Varane is a tad disingenuous.

Good signing [potentially].
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eh why wouldn't we compare them?

we're both signing CBs for around the same amount
 
GoonerBear said:
I'm happy with the purchase of White. Is £50M expensive, damn right it is, but what you are doing here is paying for the player you think he can become.

Young, English born, ball playing defender. That comes with a premium right away. If anyone has watched us play out from the back at times last season, then you wouldn't argue we need a big improvement there, especially without Luiz. Considering how important Maguire is in this regard for Utd & England, I thought Utd fans would understand. He doesn't seem to come with the same mistakes as Luiz though, I seen a stat that says in his 80+ Games for Leeds & Brighton, he hasn't made an error that has led to a shot on target, while in the same time Luiz has made 4.

Everyone that talks about him in the game have nothing but praise for him. Former coaches, current coaches love him. I've heard guys like Townsend on Talksport say he was brilliant when he played against him, guys like Kalvin Phillips & Foden say he's the player that has surprised them the most in the England squad.

In saying that he's not perfect. The main weakness he has just now is his aerial duels, & let's be honest, if he was a bit taller with a better % at that, he'd likely be going to Utd, City or Chelsea rather than Arsenal in our present state.

It's also silly to compare the transfer to Varane. Both are at different stages, & so are both clubs. It's not like Arsenal have the choice of Varane. Utd need a world class defender to take them to the next level, Arsenal need a younger guy from who they can build a new team with.

I agree with the others on the Saliba situation, did we actually need White, when perhaps we could have given him the chance? Don't we have other positions of priority to fill? As long as the purchase doesn't stop us from buying a new partner for Partey & a new attacking midfielder, then I can't really complain.
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I think you have a potentially excellent defender on your hands. Brighton are my second team so I've watched a lot of them over the years.

Is £50m too much? Probably, yes. White was good last season - not without his faults, but remember it was his first season in the PL and his all-round game and talent are clear to see. And for a young English player who is on the rise (debut for the England team this year with some strong performances), we know there will always be a premium there.

On the one hand I'm gutted not to see him develop at the Amex for another season, but at the same time, £50m is an outrageously good deal for Brighton, especially in an area they are already well stacked at CB.
 
MarkCanuck said:
Please delete if this has been posted but apparently the sale of Ben White for £50m will exceed the accumulated total sales of Brighton players in the club's history since it formed in 1901 until 2020. Crazy if true.
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They need to name a stand or facility after him like Bellingham and Birmingham.
 
MarkCanuck said:
Please delete if this has been posted but apparently the sale of Ben White for £50m will exceed the accumulated total sales of Brighton players in the club's history since it formed in 1901 until 2020. Crazy if true.
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Not really crazy given that for the vast majority of that time we were in lower divisions and unlike United were never used to dealing in big money transfers. When we were in the old division one, I think the biggest transfer fee we got was about 1.5M for Mark Lawrenson when he went to Liverpool.

After that we dropped all the way to the bottom of the bottom division and almost dropped out and pretty much went bust, our next biggest sale was in the early 2000s when Bobby Zamora went to Spurs for maybe 2M.

As we came back up the leagues, the income went up as well for example Ulloa going to Leicester for 9M. Then last year we sold Knockaert for 10M and now White for 50M
 
He's not a bad defender but I'm not sure about the price. Arsenal fans bending over backwards to try and make out he's better value than Varane. If we'd have signed White you'd have heard no end of it.
 
Nickosaur said:
I think you have a potentially excellent defender on your hands. Brighton are my second team so I've watched a lot of them over the years.

Is £50m too much? Probably, yes. White was good last season - not without his faults, but remember it was his first season in the PL and his all-round game and talent are clear to see. And for a young English player who is on the rise (debut for the England team this year with some strong performances), we know there will always be a premium there.

On the one hand I'm gutted not to see him develop at the Amex for another season, but at the same time, £50m is an outrageously good deal for Brighton, especially in an area they are already well stacked at CB.
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I hope so. I just think it's 1 of those deals that suit all parties in the end. I agree, on the face of it it's a lot of money. But then so was Maguire & Wan Bissaka to Utd & I'm not saying many complaints from Utd fans about that now. Sometimes to get your first choice, you just need to pay what the other club wants, like Utd did with Maguire to beat City to him.

As I've said, we aren't paying for the complete defender yet, because if he was he wouldn't come to us, in the very same way there's no point in us talking about Varane, because he wouldn't come to us either.

I'm hoping it's the start of a good partnership with Gabriel, he's a front foot defender but can be a bit rash just now, hoping White can be a bit of a calmer influence that can cover in behind sometimes. I'm also hoping Saliba comes back into the fold after his loan as that would give us a selection of very decent young central defenders, but I might be clutching at straws for that to happen.
 
GoonerBear said:
I hope so. I just think it's 1 of those deals that suit all parties in the end. I agree, on the face of it it's a lot of money. But then so was Maguire & Wan Bissaka to Utd & I'm not saying many complaints from Utd fans about that now. Sometimes to get your first choice, you just need to pay what the other club wants, like Utd did with Maguire to beat City to him.

As I've said, we aren't paying for the complete defender yet, because if he was he wouldn't come to us, in the very same way there's no point in us talking about Varane, because he wouldn't come to us either.

I'm hoping it's the start of a good partnership with Gabriel, he's a front foot defender but can be a bit rash just now, hoping White can be a bit of a calmer influence that can cover in behind sometimes. I'm also hoping Saliba comes back into the fold after his loan as that would give us a selection of very decent young central defenders, but I might be clutching at straws for that to happen.
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Its annoying when fans judge two transfers based on value. That's not what determines who is a good player and who isn't.

Ben White is always going to cost alot, there are many factors contributing to that. 1. Other clubs have paid premium or defenders in the past so there is a bar. 2. English tax 3. PL experience 4. Age 5. Potential

He is rated one of the better young defenders so paying £50m for White who you know can do a job in the PL and will improve, scouts would have looked at him all season.
 
I like him, think he'll turn out to be a really good player for Arsenal. If they can afford that and strengthen in other positions, it'll be seen in a few years time as good business I'm sure.

Solius said:
He's not a bad defender but I'm not sure about the price. Arsenal fans bending over backwards to try and make out he's better value than Varane. If we'd have signed White you'd have heard no end of it.
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Maybe, but listening to opposition fans on signings is really daft. Does/will White make Arsenal better? He has the ability to move that defense and therefore team up a few levels imo. Does Varane have the ability to make us better, undeniably, and that's all there is to it for both teams surely?

No point comparing because we're shopping at two different shops at the moment (due to stability and Champions League football over no European Football at all) and if both deals go through then I think both will be happy to be honest.
 
All I can say is Ben White was absolutely brilliant and getting ever better when we were in the Championship and I was gutted we couldn't sign him permanently last summer.
 
Yeah he'll be a solid option amongst some terrible CBs. I have no idea how Mari is stealing a living in the Prem.
 
Only thing pissing me off about this deal is that it seems Brighton are going to turn around and give 15m of the cash to Liverpool for Nat Phillips helping them raise funds for a bit of transfer business. They could have Bailly or Tuanzebe for that and we would throw in Phil Jones in a kind of buy one get one free deal.
 
GoonerBear said:
I'm happy with the purchase of White. Is £50M expensive, damn right it is, but what you are doing here is paying for the player you think he can become.

Young, English born, ball playing defender. That comes with a premium right away. If anyone has watched us play out from the back at times last season, then you wouldn't argue we need a big improvement there, especially without Luiz. Considering how important Maguire is in this regard for Utd & England, I thought Utd fans would understand. He doesn't seem to come with the same mistakes as Luiz though, I seen a stat that says in his 80+ Games for Leeds & Brighton, he hasn't made an error that has led to a shot on target, while in the same time Luiz has made 4.

Everyone that talks about him in the game have nothing but praise for him. Former coaches, current coaches love him. I've heard guys like Townsend on Talksport say he was brilliant when he played against him, guys like Kalvin Phillips & Foden say he's the player that has surprised them the most in the England squad.

In saying that he's not perfect. The main weakness he has just now is his aerial duels, & let's be honest, if he was a bit taller with a better % at that, he'd likely be going to Utd, City or Chelsea rather than Arsenal in our present state.

It's also silly to compare the transfer to Varane. Both are at different stages, & so are both clubs. It's not like Arsenal have the choice of Varane. Utd need a world class defender to take them to the next level, Arsenal need a younger guy from who they can build a new team with.

I agree with the others on the Saliba situation, did we actually need White, when perhaps we could have given him the chance? Don't we have other positions of priority to fill? As long as the purchase doesn't stop us from buying a new partner for Partey & a new attacking midfielder, then I can't really complain.
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He is a solid signing. If I was given a chance, I would take him at United ahead of Lindelof.

If Varane wasn't an option for us, he would be one of the names I would personally consider ahead of Torres, Kounde or Milenkovic ( those are the ones linked to us)
 
I think this is a good signing for Arsenal. Better to pay £50m for someone they see as a long-term staple in the team than perpetually spending £20m - £30m every couple of seasons on others that don’t make the grade.
 
Solius said:
He's not a bad defender but I'm not sure about the price. Arsenal fans bending over backwards to try and make out he's better value than Varane. If we'd have signed White you'd have heard no end of it.
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To be fair, English players generally cost a lot more.
 
I do think White is a really good promising defender, 50M seems to much at the moment but I don't think anyone would have got him for less than 40M so is not like Arsenal has been taken for a ride.
 
GoonerBear said:
Well I'm sorry mate, take it up with the stats guys that classify what is & what isn't seen as an error. I don't make the rules.

Someone like Xhaka would certainly like it to be reviewed.

Edit: Found the article that mentions it.

Another crucial difference with Luiz, the man he will be replacing at Arsenal, is that he rarely makes mistakes.

In fact, in 82 league appearances for Brighton and Leeds over the last two seasons, White has not made a single error leading to an opposition shot, according to Opta. Luiz, by contrast, has made four in 53 appearances in the same time frame.

https://www.skysports.com/transfer/...an-add-a-new-dimension-for-mikel-artetas-side
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Given that @Ekeke loves citing Opta (or Opta derived) stats to prove how right he is, it'll be interesting seeing him try to explain how Opta are actually wrong here.
 
Halftrack said:
Given that @Ekeke loves citing Opta (or Opta derived) stats to prove how right he is, it'll be interesting seeing him try to explain how Opta are actually wrong here.
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Did not know that, interesting. Anyway, if you think about it like he was thinking about it, surely most goals scores would have some element of errors from the defending team?
 
GoonerBear said:
I'm happy with the purchase of White. Is £50M expensive, damn right it is, but what you are doing here is paying for the player you think he can become.

Young, English born, ball playing defender. That comes with a premium right away. If anyone has watched us play out from the back at times last season, then you wouldn't argue we need a big improvement there, especially without Luiz. Considering how important Maguire is in this regard for Utd & England, I thought Utd fans would understand. He doesn't seem to come with the same mistakes as Luiz though, I seen a stat that says in his 80+ Games for Leeds & Brighton, he hasn't made an error that has led to a shot on target, while in the same time Luiz has made 4.

Everyone that talks about him in the game have nothing but praise for him. Former coaches, current coaches love him. I've heard guys like Townsend on Talksport say he was brilliant when he played against him, guys like Kalvin Phillips & Foden say he's the player that has surprised them the most in the England squad.

In saying that he's not perfect. The main weakness he has just now is his aerial duels, & let's be honest, if he was a bit taller with a better % at that, he'd likely be going to Utd, City or Chelsea rather than Arsenal in our present state.

It's also silly to compare the transfer to Varane. Both are at different stages, & so are both clubs. It's not like Arsenal have the choice of Varane. Utd need a world class defender to take them to the next level, Arsenal need a younger guy from who they can build a new team with.

I agree with the others on the Saliba situation, did we actually need White, when perhaps we could have given him the chance? Don't we have other positions of priority to fill? As long as the purchase doesn't stop us from buying a new partner for Partey & a new attacking midfielder, then I can't really complain.
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We can sell you a Lindelof if you don’t care about heading. Good price
 
I think he's a good talent but the only problem is he's going into a team and backline with no leaders, whereas Dunk is a big figure for Brighton. The emphasis is going to very much be on him, which could either make him or be quite a tricky transition.
 
Brentford 2:0 Arsenal
He cost £50m!! Looked absolutely lost so far.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
Wouldn't pay 50 pence after tonights performance.
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I’m not even basing it on tonight’s performance. Even for Brighton I never saw the hype. A nice looking defender who steps out from the back. He’s so similar to Lindelof in many ways. But when it comes to defending he just looks bang average. He’s so poor in the air.

For Arsenal to pay 50m for him when they need such a major rebuild is shocking.

I’m still getting over Shaun Wright Phillips saying White is better option than Varane on talkSPORT yesterday!!
 
He's everything that's wrong with modern football.

A defender that can't defend, but he can knock it around fairly well and look's stylish on the ball = 50 million.

How Arsenal have paid that for him when he was the 3rd best central defender at brighton is laughable.
 
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