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…