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Welcome To Arsenal Ben White

2Smokeyy

5.0 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (49)
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
Keep mentioning my name, son...maybe one day it will help you get noticed by association.

Like I said, I’m the voice of reason got to keep the gatekeeper of mediocrity in check.

😂
 

Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
More like this…



:lol:

The legend that was Thunter, compared me to him, what feel like years ago now...still honoured.
 
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Riou

In The Winchester, Waiting For This To Blow Over

Country: Northern Ireland

Player:Gabriel
Lads, does this means what I think it means...

E7jjsXwWEAQAl_2


...Conor Coady confirmed, and a return to a back 3 :drool:
 
May be I'm too optimistic here but I think this guy has qualities that we didn't have in defence since prime Kolo Toure. He reminds me very much of Kolo particularly in terms of his dribbling abilities and confidence in carrying the ball forward and breaking the press with ease. I think this was one of the most overlooked reasons why the invincibles were so good and difficult to suppress. Looking forward...
 

ragnarock

Active Member
A bit strange yes. The article said that White and Gabriel was our new first choice CB partnership and that Holding will be on the bench.

That’s just not good. All about the hits. Imagine being cut by a guy writing fcking news updates for the official page. Sure the coaching staff are not super happy about that
 

Brett

Active Member
Arsenal had five bids rejected by Brighton and Hove Albion before finally completing the signing of Ben White on Friday afternoon. However, there was never much doubt at The Emirates that a deal would be done, even if it meant relenting and agreeing to pay the £50 million the south coast club had always demanded for their England international defender.

The Brighton hierarchy played hardball to achieve their initial asking price during meetings involving key figures at both clubs conducted in person, on Zoom calls and by phone over recent weeks.

With Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta making it crystal clear to the club’s owners that White was the man and the player he thought was best suited to bolstering their defence and transforming their ailing fortunes, there was a sense they would always get it over the line in the end.

Now the deal is finally done, The Athletic can reveal…

  • Arsenal have tracked the defender for over a year
  • At no stage did Brighton blink during negotiations
  • Arteta asked Bukayo Saka for feedback from England training
  • White’s camp have been told that Arsenal hope there are more signings to come

Brighton were already bracing themselves for interest in 23-year-old White long before the end of his highly impressive debut season in the Premier League.

Leading clubs had scouted White regularly at matches throughout last season, with Chelsea among those interested at the start of the summer, but it was Arsenal pushed ahead with a formal bid. They had watched White closely for at least a year, with the defender having caught their eye during his loan spell at Leeds in 2019-20. He had been their priority signing since Sevilla’s Jules Kounde had made it clear he would not be interested in a move to the club due to their lack of Champions League football.

In spite of incurring a £67 million loss for the 2019-20 season, Brighton didn’t want or need to sell one of their prized assets. The ongoing generosity of owner-chairman Tony Bloom meant the club were in a position to name their price, then sit back and wait for Arsenal — or any of the other big clubs sniffing around the defender — to stump up the cash.

There was no clause in White’s contract that would allow him to leave for a certain fee — that’s not something Bloom has ever been willing to offer.

Brighton never even considered budging on their initial demand of a guaranteed £50 million, irrespective of additional clauses based on factors such as appearances, and their bargaining position was strengthened at the end of May when White was included in Gareth Southgate’s provisional England squad of 33 players for Euro 2020. That stance was bolstered further the following week when White was promoted from the standby list to the final 26 to replace the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold. By this stage, Arsenal’s interest was well known.

Those close to White say he is rarely fazed and takes everything in his stride. He doesn’t deal in ifs and maybes, and was never likely to have a strong opinion on his future until offers were on the table. He was happy enough for talks to continue while he was away with England, although once Southgate’s side reached the latter stages of the competition, the consensus was that it was sensible to put it on the back burner.

Ben White, England, Bukayo Saka, Arsenal


White in England training alongside Bukayo Saka in the lead-up to Euro 2020 (Photo: Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images)
During the tournament, Arteta checked in with Bukayo Saka to get the youngster’s view on his potential new clubmate. With the 19-year-old’s feedback overwhelmingly positive, Arsenal pushed on for a deal.

Arsenal and Brighton first met to discuss the prospect of a deal face-to-face in mid-June, with Paul Barber (chief executive) and Dan Ashworth (technical director) acting as Brighton’s delegation, and Richard Garlick (director of football operations) and Edu (technical director) representing Arsenal.

The Athletic understands that meeting was constructive but challenging, with no agreement being reached at that stage. Ashworth and Garlick had worked together at West Brom prior to Garlick, the club’s secretary and legal director, succeeding Ashworth as sporting and technical director in 2013. Ashworth, in his subsequent role as FA technical director, and Barber also dealt regularly with Garlick when he became the Premier League’s director of football in the summer of 2018 before joining Arsenal at the start of this year

Despite nothing being agreed at that first meeting, those historic relationships helped smooth the negotiating process and created an environment where it felt a deal was possible, even though the two sides were a considerable distance apart on their valuations of White at that point.

Arsenal’s first offer is believed to have been for around £42 million. Bit by bit, as Ashworth and Barber resolutely refused to budge on Brighton’s £50 million asking price, Arsenal’s bids increased and a deal got closer.

Arsenal had four further bids rejected before agreement was reached. The final terms of the deal, which includes a sell-on clause for Brighton, were agreed in phone calls between Barber and Vinai Venkatesham, the respective chief executives of the clubs.

The key elements, notably the guaranteed £50 million, were in place by that stage. The closing talks between the chief executives were more about other details in the structure of the deal such as the time period for payment of the fee and the sell-on clause.

Overall, the negotiating process between the clubs was described as civil, calm and professional.

By now, White’s camp had already had in-depth telephone conversations with Arteta in which the Spaniard made clear exactly where he saw the defender fitting into his team — as the right-sided centre-back — and also that Arsenal hope that he won’t be the club’s last “significant” signing of the summer.

Those additional deals may be dependant on exactly who Arsenal can get out of the door in the coming week. The signing of White has taken up a big chunk of the club’s transfer budget but it was deemed an opportunity they had to take. This is, after all, a player who has been on the radar of many of Europe’s biggest clubs in recent times — Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain among them — and in a position where Arteta had made it clear he wanted reinforcements.

As for the obvious comparisons to the week’s other big Premier League move involving a centre-back, while Manchester United are paying less for Raphael Varane in terms of the transfer fees, given the difference in wages, it’s likely United will be paying more over the course of the next few years.


So, what have Arsenal gained from White’s move to the Emirates Stadium?

Arsenal are getting an England international who, aside from being sound defensively, composed in possession and adaptable, is also calm, laid-back by nature and extremely marketable. Given his age, he is also only likely to get better.

White will not be flustered by the size of the club he is joining or the size of the fee. It looks like a good deal, all things considered, for all parties.

He had been a classy presence on the right of Graham Potter’s favoured three central defenders but also has the versatility to be comfortable in a back four, at right-back, or as a holding midfielder. The latter was a position he occupied in some matches for Brighton in the early stages of last season, having deputised in the role the previous season on loan to Leeds United when Kalvin Phillips, now a close friend and England colleague, was unavailable.

However, it will be at centre-back where Arteta will deploy his latest signing — that is, after all, the position Arsenal have struggled most to get right in recent times.

Ben White, Brighton


(Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
In the latter Arsène Wenger years, Arsenal had a central defensive partnership that worked in Laurent Koscienly and Per Mertesacker, but since then, contenders have come and gone, in various shapes, sizes and in price ranges. During last season’s summer window, Arsenal had such a surplus of centre-backs on their books that one of them, Sokratis, was left out of the squad and forced to train with no chance of playing until his departure.

The list in full was extraordinary, really, comprising nine in total contracted to Arsenal: David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis (since departed), William Saliba and Konstantinos Mavropanos (loaned elsewhere), Rob Holding and Calum Chambers (dependable fixtures in the squad), Pablo Mari and Gabriel (recent arrivals).

Saliba has been the most curious case of all. The thinking was to recruit a game-changing player to lead from the heart of defence while also being affordable. Saliba was identified to fit the mould and Arsenal found £30 million to spend on a teenager they would not immediately have at the club, with Saint-Etienne insistent he be loaned back to them for a year first.

It is well documented that the situation has become complicated and Saliba is now back on loan in Ligue 1 for the third time since joining Arsenal, his squad number — the No 4 — now on the back of Ben White’s new red jersey.

Arsenal have gone all in again for a transformative defender and not deviated from White as a primary target this summer. He arrives with considerable expectation that he can be the player capable of knitting together a defensive unit capable of writing a different story for Arsenal. It is a big task but with Holding, Gabriel, Mari and White all relatively young and all on relatively long contracts, perhaps there is finally hope of the stability Arteta and Arsenal have long craved.

As for Brighton, the fee received for White obliterates the previous club record of around £10 million paid by Fulham in a loan-to-buy package deal for French winger Anthony Knockaert in July 2019.

A source close to Brighton says: “A £50 million transfer, even five years ago, would have been unthinkable. Ten years ago, people would have laughed, so it’s a real landmark for the club.”

The benefit to Brighton does not end with the size of the fee. They have also demonstrated to prospective young signings that a pathway to playing for the biggest clubs will not be blocked, providing the price is right.

It’s a significant next step in the evolution of a club about to enter its fifth season in the Premier League, especially when they are currently involved in an ongoing attempt to sign 18-year-old Tino Livramento, Chelsea’s top academy prospect.

For White and Arsenal, they hope that next step is a return to competing for the top four and trophies.

Now the deal is finally done, The Athletic can reveal…

  • Arsenal have tracked the defender for over a year
  • At no stage did Brighton blink during negotiations
  • Arteta asked Bukayo Saka for feedback from England training
  • White’s camp have been told that Arsenal hope there are more signings to come

Thanks Macho for posting these here.
 

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