[Football] Arsenal’s Ben White

[Dave the OAP]

The pain of all this will be that when he does become an England regular, Leeds fans will for ever be banging on about how bielsa "made him", and the suck ups in the media will refer to it too. £50m will make that palatable, but it will always be a bit of grit in the salad.

To a certain degree they will be right much as I hate to say it

He only had one season behind closed doors etc with us and looked a class above

Apart from this season which was one of fighting off relegation, his most successful season as a player was Leeds promotion season

All we did was loan him out really!

 

[Hugo Rune]

Bissouma would have won player of the Season were it not for Leeds fans rigging the vote.

Or the fans who just vote for Dunk every season because he is one of our own despite there being more deserving players.

 

[HantsSeagull]

I think Veltman is a terrific player, but I have concerns over Lamptey’s ability to remain fit and as far I can see Veltman is the only real cover we have at RB or RWB. If we purchase another right sided defender then Veltman can be the RCB but we’ll still need cover at centre back unless Ostigard is ready. Either way, if White is going we’ll need at least two new defenders as we’re already short at LB.

The club seem to see Karboniwek (spelling sorry) as a right sided player rather the left back we all thought we were getting. Maybe he will be Lamptey's back up?

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Bissouma would have won player of the Season were it not for Leeds fans rigging the vote.

Is that right? them cheeky northerners!

 

[Skaville]

Credit to those externally at Newport, Peterborough and Leeds but more importantly, well done to:

- the recruitment team for identifying and securing Ben at 16
- the academy and coaching staff for managing his development
- Potter for the work he has done with him this year
- Ben himself for the hard work, self belief and good decisions along the way
- Our senior pros for managing his transition to the Premier League
- Bloom, Ashworth and Barber for not cashing in early and securing a landmark deal for the club

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

To a certain degree they will be right much as I hate to say it

He only had one season behind closed doors etc with us and looked a class above

Apart from this season which was one of fighting off relegation, his most successful season as a player was Leeds promotion season

All we did was loan him out really!

That’s no true at all, listen to interviews with Ben, he’s speaks of how our coaches made him the player he is. How his confidence was so low when he joined and they helped him develop as a player and give him the confidence to become the player he is today. Playing a full season in the Premier League and proving you can perform at that level week in week out carries way more weight than winning The Championship, no one other than Leeds bid on him last season as they wanted to see how he got on this season before taking the leap.

That’s why we are getting at least £50 million pounds for him, not just because we loaned him out to Leeds and Newport. The only people who think otherwise are that deluded lot from The Champions of Europe.

 

[nwgull]

To a certain degree they will be right much as I hate to say it

He only had one season behind closed doors etc with us and looked a class above

Apart from this season which was one of fighting off relegation, his most successful season as a player was Leeds promotion season

All we did was loan him out really!

Utter bollocks.

We spotted the potential in him that Saints couldn’t at 16 and he progressed through our U18s and U23s for 3 seasons before progressive loans up through the leagues - his development under BHA has been perfect. As for this season, he’s clearly moved up another gear looking comfortable playing at a far higher level than anything he faced in the Championship with a dominating Leeds team.

 

[beorhthelm]

The pain of all this will be that when he does become an England regular, Leeds fans will for ever be banging on about how bielsa "made him", and the suck ups in the media will refer to it too. £50m will make that palatable, but it will always be a bit of grit in the salad.

and no one will pay the slightest attention to them, most will know him as an Arsenal player, some will know him from Brighton. a few anoraks will remember his Leeds season (and Peterborough and Newport).

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Not sure I’ll be losing much sleep over commentators potentially saying ‘Leeds made England star Ben White.’

To quote a colleague “The things people worry about!”

 

[Bakero]

I think Potter sees Karbo as more of a RWB than a LWB looking at where he has been deployed for the 1st team and U23s so far but I’m not sure the Pole will be ready for England 1st team football for a season or two.

I think White will be replaced by two players in the squad. My money is on Østigård & Băluță with Roberts just missing out unless we sign someone pretty quick.

I think Cucurella could do a job at RWB if we sign him & Lamptey along with Veltman are injured.

Has Băluță done anything to suggest he's ready for Premier League football? Ostigard looks a better bet and he's ahead in the diacritics stakes too.

 

[vagabond]

Here is how I feel. Was Ben going to be sold this Summer. The answer is 90% yes.
So I am not really disappointed if this is true. £50 mill is not to be sniffed at and we could not compete with their wage offer.

What I am disappointed with is. I don’t see Arsenal as a new or exciting challenge over Brighton. So this is purely a $ thing.

Given another year with lil old Brighton and I think A. We could be achieving more than Arsenal and B. He’d get more from a bigger club.

I don’t se Areteta as a better coach than Potter. So he would learn more with us.

Anyway I’m resigned to the fact he’s going. Good luck to him. …….. sort of.

And it really won’t weaken the 11. I truly think Webster is our best Centre back.

Well said.

I wouldn’t think twice if he was signing for Liverpool, Chelsea, City or Utd. But Arsenal? I agree with you completely that the thing they have over us mainly is $$$.

- There’s not exactly huge daylight between our squads.
- No Europe
- Toxic fan base
- No chance their club is run as well as ours
- And there’s no way Arteta is as good a coach or tactician as Potter.

 

[Weststander]

Good luck BW, a class act and I never even saw him play live .

[Separately, Veltman was consistently excellent, my POTS. Surprised to see people downplaying his input].

 

[Springal]

Arsenal were one of the top 3 teams in the second half of the season were they not ?

 

[vagabond]

I think some people are over playing this third best centre back claim.

Defensively over the course of the season you can say it's true but he got better and better as the season went on. Particularly in the second half of the season I don't think there was much in it on the defensive front and of Dunk, Webster and himself he has the most potential and room to get even better. Plus there's what he brings to the team when we have the ball. He has a really good range of passing, is incredibly calm and composed and carries the ball out of defense as well as any centre back in the league. On top of which he bombs forward on over/underlaps.

If these rumours prove to be false and he is in fact our player next season he'll make a mockery of the 'third best' centre back claims. I think they're just a classic example of down playing once a player leaves/doesn't sign.

If the rumours are true and he is Arsenal bound I hope they don't turn him into the shitshow that pretty much all their defenders have become over the past decade.

Totally agree. Aside from a few shaky games at the start of the season he was class 90% the rest of the season (I do recall a few blips, ie, his strange punt vs Palace and missing headers which costs us a couple of goals).

He is excellent however at bringing the ball out and playing through the lines. Webster also does this so it won’t be missed completely.

 

[Berty23]

I dont think I follow the anti-arsenal sentiment on here. They are undeniably an enormous club. It is quite possible that White loves the idea of joining a huge club and forming the spine as they improve to challenge again. They have some very good young players and will be able to attract big names. Joining at 23 he could have a decade there and become a club legend. If he joined somewhere like Liverpool or city he would just be another player. Maybe he fancies the challenge and has been told of big plans for development.

Didn’t arsenal do quite well in the second half of the season? With a few more good signings the could easily be challenging for the top 4 again. It strikes me that white is one piece in this jigsaw. Arsenal have been in the doldrums for a while but if I was an arsenal fan and we signed white I would be genuinely excited about a resurgence approaching.

 

[WATFORD zero]

Good luck Ben. Great deal for us and I'm sure he'll do well.

I've said all along that if we had to lose Biss or Ben, then we would be weakened less and already have far better cover in Ben's position. Dare I dream that this improves the chances of keeping Biss

 

[HantsSeagull]

Good luck BW, a class act and I never even saw him play live .

[Separately, Veltman was consistently excellent, my POTS. Surprised to see people downplaying his input].

Hear, hear re Veltman - i thought he was a revelation last season My POTS too.

 

[Bakero]

Arsenal were one of the top 3 teams in the second half of the season were they not ?

I was just looking at the second half of the season form table. They were joint 4th on 34 points.

They'll expect to challenge for a Champions League spot this season.

 

[Sid in the Sharknado]

Totally agree. Aside from a few shaky games at the start of the season he was class 90% the rest of the season (I do recall a few blips, ie, his strange punt vs Palace and missing headers which costs us a couple of goals).

He is excellent however at bringing the ball out and playing through the lines. Webster also does this so it won’t be missed completely.

White will need to be replaced with an equivalent on the other side to Webster, or it'll completely mess up how we play.

Or we could instead go to 4 at the back to have an extra player elsewhere. Looking at the signings we've been made or linked with I assume we're going to be playing with 8 wingers, Dunk and Webster, and Sanchez.

 

[vagabond]

I dont think I follow the anti-arsenal sentiment on here. They are undeniably an enormous club. It is quite possible that White loves the idea of joining a huge club and forming the spine as they improve to challenge again. They have some very good young players and will be able to attract big names. Joining at 23 he could have a decade there and become a club legend. If he joined somewhere like Liverpool or city he would just be another player. Maybe he fancies the challenge and has been told of big plans for development.

Didn’t arsenal do quite well in the second half of the season? With a few more good signings the could easily be challenging for the top 4 again. It strikes me that white is one piece in this jigsaw. Arsenal have been in the doldrums for a while but if I was an arsenal fan and we signed white I would be genuinely excited about a resurgence approaching.

You’re not wrong, of course everything you say is true… but speaking for myself, I just think the kid could do better than Arsenal. I want him to do well wherever he goes. But that club just seems quite toxic to me these days.

If they get a bad start their fans will be screaming Arteta out, board out again.

And it’s going to be a push for them to make top 4 anytime soon, which the fan base wants. Will be interesting to see how he gets on though and as said I wish him all the best.