The never-ending transfer saga of Ben White to Arsenal has been delayed yet again due to England making it all the way to the Euros Final against Italy at the weekend, but it seems that Brighton and the Gunners are still haggling over the price for the excellent defender.
The Metro has reported the new offer this evening, and this is an excerpt from their article……
The Gunners have already seen their opening two offers for the 23-year-old rejected by Brighton, including one worth £42m up front plus a further £4m in add-ons.
Everton have also entered the race to sign White and have indicated that they are willing to better Arsenal’s bid by offering a guaranteed £50m as well as an additional £5m in bonus payments.
According to the Transfer Window Podcast, Arsenal have now revised their offer and their third bid consists of a guaranteed payment upfront of £48m, plus another £6m in performance-related add-ons which the Gunners consider ‘achievable’.
They claim that Mikel Arteta is simply not taking no for an answer as the Spaniard thinks White is integral to his plans next season. But, of course, they say that Brighton have not made any response to this rumoured “third offer”.
And for all the people who think that Everton could be our only competition for his signature, the report also slipped in that Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United have also registered their interest (but no offers as yet, they say).
This White transfer is becoming a bit of a bind, especially as White himself told everyone at the start of the Euros that he wouldn’t be discussing any rumours while on international duty.
But surely there can’t be this much smoke without fire, can there? It will be a bit of a massive let down if this doesn’t go through in the end….
The one thing that will ensure we miss out, is the Russian roubles or the oil money – if these two factors aren’t involved then I believe Arteta will get his man.
But do you really think that boy is worth that kind of money?
That’s MA’s call, my personal opinion is clouded by the treatment of Saliba.
If the manager is prepared to let him (Saliba) go out on loan again, then White must be one hell of a player…. yet Stone and Maguire are keeping him out of the England team, so I have to rely on the manager!!!
Excellent point Ken. Young Saka gets starts, White sits on the bench. Stones has been solid, but White is supposed to be the second coming.
Honestly I feel sorry for the young man, he’ll never match the hype being thrust on him.
Sillest rumors I have heard so far today.
1. Arsenal offering Ramos 2 year deal for £15 million per season.
2. Arteta sees White as future Arsenal captain. As if Tierney and Saka haven’t shown the character to be captains themselves.
I just laugh at the rumors now, silly season for sure.
Funny there is no article in JA about the now publicized rumours about the offer we made to Sergio Ramos.
How can a club, not playing in Europe the coming season, afford to pay 25% more than a club playing in UCL regularly to a 35 year old CB?
Durand, someone is keeping count on the rumoured players we are in for… I think it was 77 at the last count… silly season indeed!!
Yep, if we do get White over the line, the poor man will have to perform miracles.
Not having played one minute of football in the euros, bothers me… but obviously not MA/Edu… and the reported £50,000,000 plus being touted is a “kings ransom” when one thinks of Saliba.
What the long term plan for this player is, only MA/Edu know – for me and my limited knowledge, it seems a complete waste of money, time and talent.
Imagine the uproar if this had happened, say, three years ago!!!!
Durand , yes, rumours are silly , its true but they have always been silly and that is WHY they are classed simply as rumours. Most intelligent fans – which is not MOST FANS btw – can easily dismiss as nonsense the 99% or so that constantly appear on JA via little heard of other rumour sites.
White is clearly NOT a rumour and whether or not he is worth £50+ mill may or may not be seen, dependant on whether or not City and Chelsea really want him. If they do then we are blown out of the water. If they do not, then he will arrive in due course.
I note your general disdain for the judgement of MA and do not much agree with you on that.
My instinct is that White is badly wanted and will PROBABLY arrive here. We will THEN see which of our views on him prove correct; MA and mine or yours. Clearly they cannot both be correct.
I do. He will wpchange our attacking play from the way we play from the back and defend.
We need top quality signings upfront. We are not playing in Europe next season. Holding, Mari, Saliba, Gabriel are good enough for the league. Aouar and Sterling signing should have been the priority. Our offensive play needs to improve. We need more goals from attack. The defence is not that bad.
How good is this Aouar, is he in the French National team?
Our offer is not as high as Everton’s so why will they accept🤔
How do you know that Neil?
Also, the player will have the final say wouldn’t he?
No, he is not. His meteoric rise happens to certain players every window (remember how we nearly paid 90 million for Thomas Lemar?).
White was not considered good enough to start for Brighton until last season. The England call up tacked 15 to 20 million to his price tag despite not yet kicking a ball for England. He is behind players on the England squad who would not command his price tag.
Just forget at this overrated guy, anything higher than 30m is bad
Arsenal is allowing Arteta waste £54m on White when we have a better player in William Saliba. My happiness is that Arteta will be sacked this December.
Arsenal2win. Let me get this straight, you hope that arsenal will be shit enough so MA gets the sacked in December?
Really? You contradict your name itself.
Arsenal forever, Victory Through Harmony
This is the daft aspect of the Arsenal2win comment
Why anyone would want Arteta to fail is beyond me. We want him to succeed, not the opposite. The thought of trying to reboot the club again by bringing in another man come Christmas is a ghastly prospect. It may well happen but it’s it not ideal for the club, the players and the supporters for there to be more upheaval
How is saliba better than White when he’s yet to kick a ball in the EPL? I’m sure if Ben White was played in Ligue1 last season, he would have done brilliant as well and still be chased by many big clubs. I have not heard if anyone offering us 20k to take saliba. Is he really as good as you think?
How much do you realistically value Saliba right now, after we paid 27 million quid for the same player a couple of seasons ago? A ball-park figure will do. And please try to justify how you arrived at that valuation.
Your “happiness” will IMO, turn into a mere mistaken pipedream.
I see not a cat in hells chance of MA leaving in December, personally. Nor any need for it. I say that with the certain knowledge of who owns us and, unlike you, I do not forget that salient fact!
Arsenal2 win(which you dont seem to want, I notice) I forecast that your so called “happiness ” will become a source of embarrassment to you and will turn into your bitter thwarted rage when MA does NOT get sacked this December.
Your rage will be at yourself for your own foolishness in
writing the above post, which will rebound horribly against you,IMO.
Arsenal 2win, Your “happiness” will IMO turn into thwarted embarrassment and rage at your own naivety in predicting MA being sacked in December.
The only thing that intrigues me is the “achievable” part.
Willian was impressed by certain “achievable” during negotiations.
“One of the reasons I wanted a three-year deal was to be part of a plan, not just a player passing through.
When I talked with the manager he told me why he needed me for three years.
It was that he first wanted to qualify for the Champions League and win it by the time I left. That was what I wanted to hear.”
Nail-biting wait till White makes that press conference.
Hopefully the last bid we place on White, it’s gone from ridiculous to ludicrous.
That’s enough to get Auoar PLUS decent bid for Sanches or Zakaria to name 2.
How influential can White be compared to a new midfielder?
With the results we achieved after December regarding our defense, is White truly that crucial for our domestic schedule?
Walk away before we get mugged.
Exactly my thoughts Durand. I have learned to strengthen my weakest points before looking at other areas. Why spend 54m on a defender first. Was that our weakest area?
This one is dragging. Preseason is here and we haven’t signed players to improve our starting 11 yet as lokonga and tavares are widely expected to be back up players, we should be getting those targets in first but unsurprisingly we’re doing it the other way round, very frustrating.
Ot:Sassuolo CEO Carnevali to Sky: “We’re in talks for Locatelli with one club from abroad… and it’s really advanced. We’re gonna meet with Juventus in the next days, but there are no negotiations yet with Juve as Italian clubs are in difficult financial situation”. Flag of Italy #AFC #Juve
Our we that club? Going on previous speculation it would suggest so. I really trying to remain patient and optimistic but it’s damn hard!
Crazy MA. Want to spend so much on defender while not forcusing on your weak midfield. Your spending on defence proved that MA never improve defence while your attacking already affected by MA focus on defence.
When you have no money, use & develop young players; we will support you even if your result no good. Yet, you like to use oldies. Sad! Frustrated!
Because of his immense talent, he’s worth at least £60m.
As Arsenal fans, I’m beginning to think we’re our own worst enemy….
When the club buys average players like Torreira, Guendouzi, Gabriel, I see many people very happy hyping them.
But when the club starts targeting WORLD-CLASS players like BEN WHITE, people think it’s wastage of money.
REALLY????
Well, no defender at Arsenal currently is starting material, so White will be a huge improvement on the mediocre defenders we currently have.
World Class? Seriously?
Based on what his price tag?
Pretty sure a world class CB wouldn’t sit on the bench behind Stones and Mcquire.
At least you haven’t fallen for the hype.
Unlike you, it’s not now that I have wanted White in our defence….
I was advocating for him to be bought last season instead of the ponderous Gabriel we signed.
I’ve watched him long enough to know that he’s exactly what we need in defence.
They already made a mistake by not bringing back MAVROPANOS who is miles ahead of any defender at Arsenal
And remember Luiz was the only worthy starter in our defence and he’s gone. So just imagine the kind of poor recruitment that has been going on.
What world class?
No matter the impetus for change, shelling out such an excessive sum for a relatively unproven defender is a questionable venture at best…not only were we rife with defending prospects, some of whom we’ve seemingly abandoned prematurely, but we likewise have far bigger needs which require our immediate attentions
the chances of this individual living up to the exceedingly high expectations that will be invariably placed on his shoulders, rightly or wrongly, due to the nature of the investment being made, simply doesn’t rise to a level that makes it worthy of the risk involved…so far MA’s pursuits has led to the devaluing of Mavro, who has received the much-coveted Diamond Eye seal of approval, the further ostracization of Saliba, who did everything and more when given a half-season to prove himself on loan, yet the smart money would suggest that he will likely never wear the kit again, and left us with a poorly coached-up and underappreciated Gabs, an underwhelming Holding and the oft-injured yet serviceable Mari
furthermore, I absolutely detest the whole captaincy narrative that has been bandied about in recent days as it’s such a problematic and overplayed ploy, in that it further cheapens the armband and has the tendency to unnecessarily divide a locker room whenever it moves from the private to the public realm
now White would have made some sense as a 18-22M prospect, following his Leeds loan, but when that priced doubled then almost tripled, he should have immediately fallen off our radar, as this is the kind of risk/reward undertaking that is best left to those with bottomless pockets and/or further along in the process…at this juncture, we should have been in full-bore developmental mode and the only time we should have even contemplated forking out such a sum is if the player in question had a far more substantial CV…unfortunately, the short-sighted decisions of our green-thumb gang last season continues to complicate matters, which is why I believe this slightly better than a coin toss proposition is in the offing, as they seem to be trying to make up for largely self-inflicted wasted year…as such, this course of action raises some serious red flags
This Ben white thing for more than £50 million is absolutely making me nervous.
I just feel like we are wasting money on a player that will not improve us a great deal.
We have overpaid for players in recent years.
Ozil £42 million
Laca £50 million
Auba £60 million
Pepe £70 million
Partey £45 million
Etc..
And now Ben white £50 million plus.
And we pay them astronomical wages on top.
Willian on £200,000 a week I hear.
No wonder our financial situation has become a mess..
I think we overpaid only for Pepe. Ozil and Aubameyang could have cost more at the time of their signings so we underpaid there.
Partey is the right amount and I dont have a comment on Lacazette.
Ozil, Pepe, Laca should have been between £28 – £35 million.
Auba between £38 – £45 million.
That’s what I always thought before we signed any of them.
I had no clue who Pepe was before Ornstein broke the News in that later days of that summer window.
Hahahaha
You were expecting a first team player at Real Madrid and the leading assist maker in the world as at the year 2013 to be sold for £28-£35m. Do a research on how much Di maria was sold to Man Utd a season after ozil was sold to Arsenal.
You were expecting Arsenal to buy a joint highest goalscorer and highest maker (scored over 20goals and over 10 assists) in League 1 along side Mbappe for as little as £28-£35m considering it was reported we were going for Zaha for almost same price who was older and less productive than Pepe?
You were expecting Arsenal to sign a well renowned striker, the captain of Lyon with about 35 goals scored the season before for as little as £27-£35m.
And with Aubameyang, I have nothing to say to you if you expect Dortmund to sell their Hitman for as little as peanuts then you know nothing about Dortmund sales, when you think of Dembele to Barca transfer,Samcho to Man Utd, Haaland prospective £150m purchase and a host of other Wonderful talents.
Mehn some Arsenal fans know little of players performances before they certainly to Arsenal, and are only judged by the price tag
I cant understand one thing. Our defence was the third best in the PL last season and yet MA wants to invest in defence. We have Saliba and Mavro, 2 very good young defenders and yet MA wants to invest in defence. We need desperately a quality CAM, a quality DM, aback up RB and a back up GK and yet MA wants to invest such a huge amount on a defender. Just cant understand…
Neither do i!what i also find ironic is that the people (or at least some) who’ve been going on about us having the 3rd best defence in the PL are also backing this bid when we have more urgent and obvious needs!
To set the record straight, I’m NOT in favour of signing White for anything over 20-25 million quid, only after testing out the CBs already in our books. Let’s get into business then.
“How we gonna replace David Luiz, the only ball playing CB who can instigate the play out from the back???” will be the stick, people who back the bid, gonna use to beat up anyone who don’t fall in line with them.
For the record, post X’mas, David Luiz was unavailable for selection in 9 games in the league alone due to health issues, clearly showing that he didn’t actively contribute to make our’s the 3rd best defence in the league.
Exactly
What a waste of £50 million.
We need better offensive players that can win us games.
I hope this Ben White rumour just a rumour..
Smh
Even though our defence was the 3rd best/etc last season I think getting Ben White is more about changing the style of play. The better defence ultimately came at a cost of a less effective attacking style, and signing White is more about getting the right defence to redress the balance going forward, rather than just conceding fewer goals. Therefore I can understand why this transfer has become so important to Arteta and hope it works out like he plans. Obviously, though, it has to be supported by another signing that will improve the midfield and allow everything to link-up properly down the spine of the team.
Fantastic comment Yossarian – and for me spot on, echoing my thoughts entirely – in fact I commented so on here previously.
The signing of White (if it happens), is more than simply the bringing in of yet another centre back.
It appears M A identified White very early on, as a player he can see would come in and palpably help implement the style of play Arteta is aspiring to.
Very much akin to the Leno debate.
Artea has to have a keeper in which he has the fullest confidence can play out from the back – the style of which M A is a complete devotee, and which is more clearly than ever going to employed by us throughout Arteta’s tenure.
We all know Leno’s feet are not the strongest aspect of his play. So in Arteta’s mind, this would give rise to concern.
By the way, I remain a Leno man – always have been.
Getting back to White.
There is an argument that the best out and out “defender” at Brighton is actually Lewis Dunk, however, White obviously fits the Arteta profile and whats he’s looking to bring in.
I’m not suddenly going to pretend to be an expert on how good Ben White is.
But Brighton supporters wax lyrical about the player.
Not only a very good versatile defender, but very, very comfortable on the ball and more than adept at playing the ball out from deep positions often enabling the speeding up of transitional play.
Also, a guy that can play in 3 or 4 positions (inc deep lying midfield), which has always been a consideration in Arsenal purchases.
Approaching 50M or over (if true), is of course grossly overpriced. But it seems the club has sanctioned the spend, and it may well happen.
And again, Arteta has identified this player as key to his vision GOING FORWARD – no point on harping on about finishing 8th or out of Europe, that is precisely what we are trying to address.
I am reminded of Klopps stance at Liverpool.
Although gradually introducing a number of players he eventually identified a Keeper and Centre Back as being key to recruitment, in came Virgil Van Dijk (who we could probably have previously snapped up by the way).
Similarly White appears to be M A’s KEY target.
If the current manager fails next season (if backed) and this is apparent early on, then there is only one outcome.
When the Euro’s are out of the way and business starts to move, we could pick up the papers (remember them ?) and read we have signed an entirely different centre back – or White has gone to Chelski or Citeh.
But if he should come to our place, I’m sure he will be the “Pepe” of the defence – judged on the size of the fee not always performances.
Remember, the fee payed is not the players doing.
In closing – The Saliba being a ball playing centre back is a vaild argument.
But M A has clearly seen something in Ben White that is an absolute fit in his vision for the team and the way we will play.
We continue to watch this space.
As do Leeds fans, A J – wax lyrical about him!
I can’t wait to see him in our kit – the sooner, the better!
Great point Sue.
Totally forgot about Leeds – more very positive feedback about “our” Ben (note to self – do not tempt fate !!!!!)
Like you, very much looking forward to ink on paper.
Everything you’ve said about the need for the change in the way we play is irrefutable. Ben White may turn out to be an upgrade and may improve the team’s performance both defensively and it attack.
But, over the past couple of seasons, to be precise – after the departure of Giroud, we lacked a Plan B. A major shortcoming for any team serious about getting the right results when things don’t go their way.
Don’t you agree that we must be concentrating on putting a Plan B in place as much as we do on refining our Plan A? Do you beleive that we have taken at least a step towards correcting that?
Just to correct this false impression that our defence was 3rd best so we’re good. Our defence conceded fewer goals because we sit deep against even weaker opposition. What this means is that we win the ball back right inside our 18 yard box. Considering our snail speed transition we have a very poor build up and in the end it affects out creativity in the final third.
Now White solves part of this problem because he’s a defender that has good tackle and apply pressure well. With him and a good midfielder we won’t have to be sitting that deep to win the ball ball from our opposition. He also has a good ball carrying capacity as with him we can easily break the lines.
People say why then is he not player ahead of Maguire and Stones? The answer is that the 2 are better than him only by experience in my opinion not by ability and coaches trust certain players more than some. Why does Saka play while sancho sits on the bench? Because Saka is a better defender, not cos he’s better. I think we should just relax.
Mikel himself knows that he’s standing on a thread. Any mistake he’s gone so he wants to fix this issue and in doing this decisions have to be taken. We moan about Saliba so much but can anyone tell me here if Saliba has ever played a full season anywhere without some form of interruption? Fafana played for Leicester so what, their defence became poorer with him by numbers.
The only mistake arsenal is doing with Saliba is not signing him to a new deal before sending him out and that will come to bite us back cos i see him stalling on another contract next year. Also, I think any loan move should be to an English club instead of France at least to acclamatize. Apparently Saliba chose to go back to France. Isn’t that also saying that he doesn’t want to prove himself in England?
In the end we are arsenal fans not Saliba fans. People say Mikel will get the sack but i think otherwise. We will be just fine and we are only a few players away from competing next term. So please sit back relax and enjoy the ride.
Love this comment. Well balanced.
I think Saliba ought to consider proving himself in England. He has already done so in France. If there is anything that will get him closer to playing for Arsenal, its playing in England.
Nevertheless, i feel this Saliba/Arsenal situation has nothing to do with ability. Its probably attitude. Because Gabriel played in the same France Saliba came from and is quite young as well. Time will tell though.
Spot on, mate!
Appretiate the in-depth analysis of our defence and justifying the need for signing Ben White.
I assume that Saliba is choosing home comfort instead of spending time at an unfamiliar English club because of some domestic issues he’s dealing with right now. People can’t blame the kid for that. Would anyone in their right mind accept to work in some English country-side club after signing for an organisation in London? The appeal of living in London is one of the few perks considered by anyone who signs for Arsenal. If he’s not welcome at his familiar London coloney, he’s better off at his familiar French territory.
Signing White may solve a few problems in the squad. So were the signings of Gabriel, Partey, Cedric, Mari, Runnarson and Willian solved any problems in the past 18 months for whatever they were signed for?
How can a 20 year old Fofana who finished 5th in the league table poorer than 23 year old Ben White who finished 16th in the league table, both playing their first season in PL?
I’ll reserve my verdict until I see the league table.
MIKEL is no longer the inexperienced manager or a rookie who took over from Emery he has learnt something. I believe he has learnt his lessons the bitter way. And I see a pattern in his decision making now. Signing players like Cedric, Mari and letting Hector stay for one more season were he school boy mistakes. Not anymore.
👍 👍 👍
@gogo, maybe you have a point. But my contention is that if Arsenal buy White, it should not be at the cost of a quality CAM and a quality DM, since they are the more pressing issues. Arsenal should not say later we are short of funds in those purchases.
I like Ben white signing. We really need a ball playing pacy center back to speed up our playing from the back while making it more safe at the same time and he ticks all the boxes. But it doesn’t mean i don’t feel that we are getting ripped off here, 40m should have been enough and knowing how arsenal fans are he is going to be judged by his price tag rather than talent just like pepe and others before him.
Ben White is only 1.82 m, too short for Centre-back.
If Thiago Silva was not 1.83m, your point would be valid.
He’s just good on the ball.
However what Chelsea do is partner him with a tall centerback.
No worries.