As Arsenal continue to show ambition in the transfer market, could Ben White find himself in the same position as Jakub Kiwior?
With the Gunners pushing ahead with a move for Piero Hincapié, the deal, if completed, looks set to seal the fate of Kiwior, who has been linked with a switch to FC Porto.
Hincapié is expected to take over the Polish international’s role as a left-sided centre-back and left-back in Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal project. While the narrative appears to be Hincapié in, Kiwior out, could White also be at risk of making way for a new face?
Martínez deal could reshape defence
Arsenal have also been linked with a late swoop for Girona’s Arnau Martínez. The Gunners are understood to have submitted a bid for the right-back, who can also operate as a right-sided centre-back.
If the Martínez deal goes through as expected, it would likely prompt the departure of a right-sided defender. William Saliba and Jurrien Timber are unlikely to be sacrificed, as both are central to Arteta’s tactical blueprint.
That leaves Ben White as the most probable candidate to be moved on. While he has impressed when fit, recent recurring injuries have hampered his availability. With Timber and Cristhian Mosquera, along with Martínez, all capable of competing for a starting spot, White appears the likeliest option for an exit if Arsenal opt to reshape their defence following these additions.
White’s Arsenal future uncertain
One would hope Martínez is good enough that Andrea Berta felt compelled to pursue him, despite already having capable options at the club.
As brilliant as this summer’s transfer window has been, an uncomfortable exit was always likely to surface, whether now or in January. That exit could well be White, whom Arsenal signed for £50 million in 2021 as a right-sided centre-back, before he transitioned to right-back following Saliba’s breakthrough.
What are your thoughts on Ben White being moved on?
Daniel O
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Very overrated player. Hopefully goodbye !
The best right back we’ve got, after Timber of course.
What? Do you even watch football? The guy is class. He was one of the best right backs in Europe in 23/24, he can play really well at CB too – as proven with his previous partnership with Gabriel. Timber has admittedly raised the level even higher but White still very much has a place in the squad, Arteta really rates him.
Not sure if I disagree more with your comment or the article itself…
Merson Mersoft.
Am happy , atleast one fan remembered that White and Gabriel did form a very solid partnership at the back before Saliba enter the picture
But its important to be clever with the ball going forward with confidence is what Ben White lacks….the pass Timber slid in for Saka to score vs Leeds was perfect in angle n rightly weighted. White is incapable of that. In order to win against big team, it has to be 11 vs 11. With Ben in line up, many times it feels like Ars is playing with 10 men.
Bruh ben is much better than saliba
Overrated !
Did we not do better with white behind saka and Odegaard than with timber ?
Yes we did, White has better link up with Saka and Odegaard, and I think, personally, is still better than Timber. Timber is more rounded being able to play on the left also. But Benny Blanco is one of my favorite Arsenal players and would be stupid to get rid of
We deed very well with White, Odegaard and Saka.in fact White plays very well with Saka compared to Timber and Saka.
Man of few words,
With statements like that it’s just as well. 😂
Tough decision, but one we don’t usually make. What I mean is sell a player for good value, not bench or loan out until the value drops.
Look how other clubs sell players when their value is high; Chelsea is a great example. They sold us 2 players (Havertz and Madueke) for 117 million combined, and Mount to Utd for 70 million.
Those 3 together sold for about 187 million! Chelsea is arguably better off now, and they sell when players have value, something we have struggled with.
Surely, you’re not suggesting we may not get “top dollar” for the likes of Nelson, Lokogona or Vieira.
Talking about Chelsea selling, it’s worth noting that while they have spent more than Arsenal this summer on transfers, their latest sale means that they are now close to breaking even on transfers overall. Quite incredible really.
Bertie,
People may laugh at the amount of players that Chelsea buy, but as your post points out there selling record is second to none.
If only our teams was half as good would be a start.🤦♂️🤷♂️
Half as good? Men, we are better than Chelsea.
Ejike,
I think you misunderstand me. I don’t mean Chelsea are better than us from the playing front. I mean from the selling front, they are most definitely better than us currently.
Derek, it first starts with the Manager benching them, insulting them by not giving them minutes even in easy games, thereby devaluing them. This is not done by CFC, they protect their players value, something Mikel needs to learn. Next, our players are on massive wages, so first we devalue them, make them worthless and expect other clubs to pay us top dollar and the player his inflated wages? Hope Berta steps in and controls Mikel’s attitude towards the lesser skilled players. We signed a finished Jorginho for 10M with 6 months left on his contract, but we cannot find a club for Zinny!
That’s not always the case Derek
Nkuku for example, is reputed to be going for £15m less than Chelsea paid. What do you imagine Mudryk is worth these days?
Sue P,
While I hear what your saying regards Nkunku and Mudryk. I think it safe to say that overall, Chelsea’s transfer outgoings are by far and a way better than ours. I don’t think that can be argued with to be honest. 🤷♂️
Yes they are
They had better players under the Abramovitch era and since then Boehly has sanctioned £1.5b purchase of players after he arrived in 2022
Can’t you see the correlation between having the best and spending the most compared to what Arsenal had during the Wenger years? How many of our players had anything other than modest value when Arteta arrived? Chelsea financially were in a different league
I has been a bit of a chalk and cheese situation even without taking into account Chelsea’s churn ’em and burn ’em philosophy.
“It” has been
Chelsea’s selling has had to be top dollar as they went out and spent so much money near the beginning.
They have to raise more money from transfers than they spend this summer and have a positive transfer record this summer otherwise none of their new players will be allowed to be registered for Europe this season.
They’ve spent so much money on transfers and wages in recent seasons they’re struggling with UEFA rules.
SueP,
Regards the valuation you gave me on Nkunku of £15M. I’ve just read on the BBC Website that AC Milan have agreed a fee of £36M for him. Not a bad bit of business I think you’ll agree. 🤷♂️
But they paid over £50m Derek
SueP,
That’s still more than we’d get.
SueP
Setting aside Chelsea’s buying and subsequent selling of players, here’s a fact that surely proves how effective they are.
In the last three seasons, Chelsea have sold £250m of academy players (so all proceeds are profit). That’s way ahead of any other team, including the benchmark club in this area, F C Barcelona. They have to be given some credit for goodness’ sake.
I never said I wasn’t giving them credit.
However, I decided to follow up your points about the academy and according to the internet, under Abramovitch, Chelsea invested heavily in youth development- facilities, staff, being able to scout the best talent internationally and it clearly paid off To me, the key part is the original investment
Chelsea does seem to remind me of a revolving door when it comes to their players. The trick is making sure that door stops or at least slows down long enough to have a cohesive team rather than a bunch of skilled individuals trying to achieve the best football (not necessarily investment) objectives.
Bruised Banana,
I agree with you regards their revolving door. For me Chelsea are the dangerous floaters, but I believe for them it will come down to the manager getting the best 11 on the pitch. Something that could be a challenge I believe, with the size of their squad.
Bertie
No, I’m suggesting selling quality players when the value is high, especially when they are not starting most games.
For example, perfect time in selling Kiwior in my opinion. He got games last season due to injuries, played well (Real Madrid for example), his stock went up, so strike while the iron is hot.
Mosquera likely 3rd choice now, and Kiwior down to 4th choice. He will play less this year, harder to maintain top form, so a real possibility his value may drop, request a transfer, or any interested party won’t pay top dollar for 4th choice CB.
If Berta and Arteta think Martinez has the talent and quality to join us, even as a backup, it represents good business. 10 million for Martinez, and White would go for triple that or more.
At some point we have to start recouping some of the billion the club spent. White could bring in lots of funds, as opposed to 4 years from now, a 31/32 year old bench player worth 1/4 or 1/3 of what we can get now.
Same for Martinelli, his value a couple years ago compared to now. Take the massive profit, reinvest, and still have tens of millions in profit.
Edu was a disaster at selling, however Berta has the experience and resume’ to turn around the selling side of our transfer business.
Durand
I wasn’t being serious in my earlier post. Apologies, I should have make that a little clearer.
I agree with the points you make in your response.
You’re assuming there are be suckers out there like us paying big money for “not in the coach’s plan” players from Chelsea.
WHC,
Well there are a lot of suckers out there as you call them. Just look at the Chelsea players sold will tell you that.
Can’t agree with more. We need to learn the business side of football as well
It doesn’t seem to matter who we buy, they always seem to have to be versatile. We’re looking like buying another left sided Centre back that can play left back.
And now we’re being connected with a right sided Centre back that can play right back. While versatility has its place, I would just like to see us go out and buy a specialist left or right back for once.
Am I the only one who thinks this way?.
I think versatility is important as it allows more possibilities. My view at the time was the ability of the team to fill in during the worst of our injuries & was a big factor in still managing to finish second
Sue P,
As I said in my post, Versatility has its place. But I still stand by my view that a player who plays in his preferred position will more often than not produce more consistent level performances than a player being moved around to much.
Agree to differ
Rubbish article. Who was holding up the fort during Timber’s first season ? Gabriel/White was one of the League’s best centre back pairings, albeit not quite as great as Gabriel/Saliba. White/Odegaard/Saka on the right was as exciting to watch as it was effective. And going by this vasatility measurement, Saliba should have been sold.
This is a very limited view as usual. You haven’t considered various other factors. How good is said specialist? How robust are they and therefore how often will they be available? How much will they cost and what impact would that have on the rest of your team building? etc. etc.
Simply suggesting a specialist is better is completely meaningless without considering other factors and context.
David,
In my post you’ll notice I did say versatility has its place. But in my opinion playing round pegs in round holes more often than not, will in the long run produce more consistent levels of performance from said player.
I know that some players are very good in whatever position they play, but even they if asked would admit to a preference in position if asked.
So your first line of, “This is a very limited view as usual” just made me laugh. I await your next impassioned defense of Arteta, if it goes belly up.🙄
We would have to sell him gor 49 million just to make 10 million , Brighton have a sell on clause for 30 million, so he isn’t going anywhere, he is a good player, so why would we sell him
40 million
Got to keep White. Perhaps his injuries was caused because over played or no suitable back up. Also coming back not really fully fit.Tomiyasu was never reliable. I don’t think we should get rid of him. Solid defensively & good attacking threat with Saka & Odegaard.
Have White’s injuries been more debilitating than Timber’s? Wasn’t he part of the trio on the right that were so effective?
We’re fortunate in having the two best right-backs in the Premier League who’ll get plenty of game time, and not one at the expense of the other.
It’s worrying if Arsenal are looking at right-backs because I think it would mean White is having fitness issues, rather than a sale being on the cards. By the way, right back is probably our strongest area in terms of competition.
My thought as well when the potential link to Martinez was reported, especially with his relatively low cost. Mosquera being used at RB (even though he’s principally a CB) may be another warning sign.
What a shame to even be considering letting Ben White go, he has been a great servant but his latest string of injuries is not encouraging for his future. Reluctantly I would support him leaving