Ben White has been praised for his performance while on England duty yesterday.
The Arsenal man was a part of a new-look England back-three that played against Switzerland.
He and debutant, Marc Guehi, gave a good account of themselves and they are now pushing Harry Maguire and John Stones for a place in Gareth Southgate’s team ahead of the World Cup.
The defender joined Arsenal in the summer and has helped the Gunners become more competitive with some very fine defensive displays.
They could make a return to the Champions League places by the end of this season and White deserves credit for how the club’s leaky defence has been fixed.
Writing in his Daily Mail Column, former Liverpool man, Danny Murphy says his emergence has been a big plus for the national team.
Adding: “White is a class act who can play at right-back or as a holding midfielder, a versatility which is a real positive.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Some of us didn’t think White was good enough for our team when he first joined in the summer, but the defender has been a revelation at the back.
He is just in the first season of his long-term deal and that means we will still enjoy his talents for several more years.
Before MA made thewise decsion to buy White, most Gooners( excluding me) thought he was a bad buy and too expensive
.To date, I have seen very few admissions from Gooners that THEY were wrong and MA was right , as is now widely seen and accepted as truth.
Nothing has been shown objectively – pundits tend to stick up for English players. Had we kept saliba instead and he’d been anywhere near as good as he’s apparently been in France, we’d be calling arteta a genius for that as well.
I haven’t been blown away by white, but think he’s done well. Still not convinced it was a great or necessary signing (still wouldn’t say he’s a 50m CB) and we might have been better served spending that money on another area of the team, particularly CM or up front. But at the end of the day, he’s here now and doing well so that’s great. If he stays in the starting lineup for a long time, the transfer fee will be forgotten anyway.
I was positive about most of our summer business. I was unsure on Lokonga but respected Kompany and more unsure on Tavares. White, was White. Year at Leeds where they’d just lost their fan fav CB and they loved him in replacement (almost impossible task.) Year after at Brighton, he did good in the prem. Obvious good choice.
Ben White, has been splendid at the back and he is worth the money. Let’s not overlook the fact that the whole defensive unit of Ramsdale, Gabriel Tierney, Tomiyasu or Cedric and White. Form that strong hold. So if he wants a place in the England squad, he can provided he isn’t accompanied by Stones Maguire cause, he is gonna lose credibility that way. Honestly, they can’t defend for nuts.