Country: Sweden
I am a bit perplexed by the mixed reactions on here regarding the interest in Ben White. Have anyone really watched him play before the interest to understand his game? We may have Holding , Chambers , Gabby , Saliba and Mari as things stand but quantity is not quality. We have greatly improved as a team defensively and most of our attacks is build up from the back. At one stage, Luis was our most important CB from a tactical point of view. He was able to play from the back , initiate the passing to draw opponents and beat the press to create an outlet for the forwards to run into the opponents half. We were our most potent with Luis in the team in terms of creativity on the ball to find KT with diagonals or passes into feet deep into the opponents half. Those moves vanished with Luis' injury. With Luis gone we have numbers and no replacement. This is what we should focus on. Continuity and bringing in a player with proven PL experience who can play on the right side of the CB role and be the focal point of the possession play from the back.
Non of our players can match Ben's pure mastery of that role. Our best defenders in Rob and Gabby can defend all day long , but pretty poor and laboured in possession , shaky in build up play , ponderous in attracting and beating the press intelligently. We have enough defenders who can defend , now we need players who can bring in what the likes of Dias , VVD , Laporte , Stones bring into the game from a progressive standpoint. This is a mainstay of our game and he is young and PL proven. He is within Arsenal's price bracket if we really want to invest as we have been mouthing off . He is English and that comes with that premium. The same premium Saka , ESR will carry if anyone made an inquiry.
Just out of interest why is spending 40M on a defender causing a stir ? How much are the clubs we hope to compete with for top 4 spending on defenders?
So Holding, Saliba and White walks into a bar. Guess who has the (by far) worst passing stats