In an unusual interview, the agent of Ben White, Alex Levack, has been talking about his clients move to Arsenal and how happy White was to join the Gunners and was extremely keen as soon as he was told about Arteta’s interest.
White himself admitted that he knew the talks were going on while he was with England at the Euros, as he told Arsenal.com: “It’s been hard to not tell anyone to be fair. I told my family to keep it quiet. Even when I was on holiday I was getting asked whether I am or not. It was tough but I managed to keep it [quiet].
“I think [I found out] when I was with England, that’s when it got a bit more serious. It was obviously nice to find out and to be here is absolutely unbelievable.”
And now his agent has given us more insight into how the deal came about, and how keen Arteta was to get White at the Emirates. In the interview with Sky Sports, (transcribed by Football.London) Laveck said: “The main challenge really was agreeing the fee between the two clubs and structuring the deal in the right way.
“Brighton didn’t really want to sell and weren’t really willing to give a valuation for the player, and with Tony Bloom being a professional poker player and gambler, he was hard to read.
“But I think both clubs dealt with the upmost integrity, and it was pretty smooth and I think the outcome was best for all parties involved.”
“Arsenal have always had a long-term interest in Ben.
“The way he plays is very conducive with the way that Arsenal like to play, and it was very fascinating the attention to detail that Arsenal put into scouting the players that they are going to sign, whether that would be artificial attention, data analysis or video analysis – it’s all very impressive.
“So, they were very consistent with wanting Ben.”
“Edu, Mikel Arteta, and actually all the guys at Arsenal were excellent to deal with,”
“They were consistent in their message that they were going to do all they could to get Ben, and in all fairness that was proven with the level of transfer fee they paid for Ben.”
“Ben’s delighted – I think he’s had to pinch himself with the Arsenal move and the England call up.
“It’s all fully deserved for the fantastic footballer, the amazing attitude, and the family support network around him.
“I think this is now a fantastic foundation for him to kick on and show everybody what he’s about.”
From that we can certainly be assured that Arteta obviously feels that White is the exact type of player that he needs at Arsenal, and White seems to be ecstatic to have joined.
We can only hope that it all works out as perfectly in the new season as the transfer dealings went.But I seriously hope that Arteta and Edu also have taken as much care in finding Arsenal the playmaker we need at the other end of the park to provide our strikers with all the chances they need to put the ball in the back of the net.
I am sure that Arteta wouldn’t be considering the sale of Joe Willock unless he had a better replacement in mind, would you?
But I personally still think the boss is holding on for Martin Odegaard to move to us permanently…
Yes, I also believe Odegaard is our number one priority
About Willock, hopefully we keep him instead of buying Maddison or Aouar. Those two high profile CAMs might be more suited to Arteta’s football style, but maybe we can train Willock to prioritize playmaking instead of scoring
Willock is good at finding the net, but he shouldn’t be around the penalty box all the time like Ramsey. He needs to drop deep frequently like Smith-Rowe, to steal the ball from the opposition’s attackers and to help in defending
Already under MA, Laca, Auba, Pepe, Saka and all other forwards are tracking back to help our “3rd best since Christmas last season” defence for the entire 90 minutes, even while playing against relegation candidates.
When a player is on a scoring streak, the sensible thing is to put him frequently in better goal scoring positions. That’s what successful managers do. Not trying to turn himself into a goal-creator or play-maker. What you’re suggesting is “turning a perfectly round peg into a square peg and trying to fit that square peg into a perfectly round hole”, which is already happening at our club consistently for the past few seasons.
VasC
Perfect explanation regarding the positioning of Willock.
Club struggles to score, so why would you ruin that by telling him not to make runs into the box, just sit back and defend?
Willock is developing into a real threat finally, a wise manager finds ways to capitalize on that, not destroy it.
Then again club considering £22 million sale, so they can then buy a scoring midfielder for double or triple that price.
Durand…. You have just predicted exactly the article I have just posted!
A wise manager builds a successful team by capitalizing on the natural talent / ability of the players in the squad. Forcing players to adapt to a system by stifling their natural traits will not only destroy the team, but also the players individually.
When we don’t have the ball, we need to assign maximum two quick attackers on the shoulder of the opposition’s last defender. The two quick attackers are ideally wingers or strikers, since they’re usually more pacey and have better dribbling skills than the other player types in the team
Smith-Rowe/ Willock usually play as CAM and Willock plays as a DM sometimes. These player types have to help the team in linking-up from our deep midfield area, stealing and in defending, otherwise we’ll be outnumbered in our half
When a player is scoring goals just for fun in one of the toughest football leagues in the world, he must be tasked with scoring goals. Not expect him to defend deep, disposes opponents and link up play from the middle of the park.
If goal scorers need to track back and help the defence to break up attack and link up play, change the defence that can’t do their duties or the system that don’t suit the defensive players or the man responsible for the system. Don’t task the goal scored with responsibilities other than the one he is good at.
Having two pacey players with dribbling skills means nothing, if the players can’t put the ball in the back of the net. Watch the Ziyech’s “almost” goal against us a few days back.
Long story short…we paid a ton of money. That is how.
If Willock score 15 to 20 goals for the season then keep him…….goals is what wins the game………..!
Gotanidea,u have give a fair assessment of willock wc some pple don’t see
Thanks bro
Yes Pat,I believe you are quite probably right about ODEGAARD being the one MA really wants. I see no truth or possibility in MADDISON, much though I’d love him here. I think that is a bluff to call RM into serious negotiating.
But far more important, in one respect, is the grave error that will be made IF AND WHEN it is confirmed that Xhaka is to get a new four year contract.
That makes no possible sense at all, as it does not enhance his value since no one, (bar Roma) wants him and nor will they a year or two from now.
So, it simply means he will remain a regular pick and that is to my mind the last straw, with MA s many other errors so far, that broke the camels back, certainly with me. We had a firm offer and should have taken it, low as it was, rather than keep this damaging, immobile man in our club.
IF that is confirmed, I JOIN THOSE WISHING ARTETAS SACKING.
Quite frightening to imagine the strength of the “Arteta OUT!!!” bandwagon, if the Xhaka deal is confirmed and jon fox officially joins them.
Arsenal fans can be too emotional and sentimental about issues sometimes.
Buying and selling players is not as straight forward as most people think.
If it were elnenny,xhaka,kolasinac and a host of others would av long gone by now. Most of the players we are trying to sell are on high wages and difficult to shift in this covid climate(economy).
Regardless it is not all doom and gloom as we have a lot of exciting young players coming up that can make a difference this coming season. We are so blessed to have talented young players from the defence to the striking position.
Let us rally round our team including the manager while rendering our support both on and off the pitch which will go a long way in making our season successful.
With the confirmed additions already we are set to do much better than last season. Our performance in the second half of the year is an indication that there is still quality in this team and we should not be too quick to write the team off.
Xakkha under arteta is reborn and is a very quality player that the just concluded euro 2020 showed and new and younger players will benefit from having him around.
Regardless of what is happening about and with other teams i, I believe we will have a much better season ahead and I want to stick my head out and predict a top 4 league position this SEASON.
COYG.
Thank you Adeleke, we have too many wailers and moaners as fans who are not being realistic with their exertions.
Xhaka is a good player that just need a good team around him, he has his flaws so is our top marks man Auba, you cant just sell him off cheaply bcos some fans who think they know football more than all the top coaches that rates Xhaka and have used him in the team.
As for Joe Willock sale, he is not a first team player and doesnt fit the coaches profile of a CAM, when he was given opportunity to play these same fans scorned and abuse all the confidence out of him before he was loaned out and he played in a different system that suits him with less criticism and he flourished. Since the coach knows he is not his profile of CAM this is best time to sell to generate funds to get his own kind of player that suits the system he wants to play. My only opinion is that they should put a buy back clause on him just in case.
Nearly all the comments are about Wilock. 😂😀😝
I didn’t like how much we paid for a defender especially since we have a budget and need to sort out our midfield as a priority BUT that’s the past and Ben White is the future
He is an Arsenal player now, so we need to rally around him and hope he makes our strong defense even stronger
I pray he Ben whites lives up to expectations and become a gunner legend like tony Adams.
William saliba on the other talks immaturely and act as such. We keep blaming arteta for not giving him the chance just read the gunner boss and others at the club wanted him to go to a premiership club to get him acclimated to the league thereby preparing him for the team next season but his immaturish decision and his agent ain’t doing him any good by still prefering Ligue one instead of proving himself in england. I say we cut our loss and sell him.
Heard we are link to tomiyasu get him in as he is as versatile as Ben white and at a good age too and wants to come to the Arsenal too.
I think Arsenal should move-on from their Ben White signing this summer transfer window after they’d completed the deal to bring him to the Emirates Stadium.
For, it’s about time now for the Arsenal Chiefs of Arteta and Edu to re-focus their focus, time, energy and efforts making at doing some upgrades in other departments of the team that are crying to have upgrade done to them unfailingly this summer.
But are Arsenal in need of upgrading their RB position this summer? For , it’s being believed that Hector Bellerin will call time at the club this summ. But should that happens, with whom will he be replaced with? Despite that the versatile Callum Chambers can play at RB. With Cedric Soares a specialist RB stationed there at RB. But Chambers is more of a CB than a RB.
And in their midfield the pinditry knowledge there is strongly suggesting that Arsenal will need to still do ,m,ore upgrade to their midfield this summer with 2 top quality signings of a new DMF and CAM.
And less I forget, a new top quality goalkepeer signing this summer is been moored for the club to sign one this summer. Who will not just be a backup goalie to Leno in the Arsenal goal warming the bench. But who will give though competition to Leno to hijack the number one goalkeeping spot from him. Which will see an improvement in the club’s goalkepeer department in goalkeeping that lead to saving 18 points in the PL for Arsenal next season’s campaign.
If it’s just a backup goalie that Arsenal need this summer, I think they have more than good goalkepeers enough in Okonkwo, Runarsson and others at their backyard to choose a backup goalie from.. But Arsenal need that top quality goalie who will give though competition to Leno for his money.
And lastly, I think Arsenal need to do a new top quality striker signing of over 30 goals scored consistently at the top level of the game this summer to refresh their striker’s department with him. The striker department personnel that looked to have gone stale in the Mental Series match at the Ems against Chelsea certainly looked in need of refreshing it with a sweet smelling fragrant striker signing this summer.
If Arsenal are to successfully compete for the top-four places finish to win the Premiership next season, then, they should endeavour to sign a top quality new goalie, a RB., a CDF, a CAM. And also a striker. All in all 5 in numbers for Arsenal to do their signings. Which if they do sign them as I’ve suggested above they should try to do. It will bring the total signed new players by Arsenal this summer window to 8. Hmmm