Arsenal are believed to be closing in on the signing of Ben White from Brighton this summer, and Ray Parlour believes it will be a good signing despite the supposed fee.
The Gunners have been strongly linked with the defender’s capture since the end of the season, and we finally look to have agreed a fee with his current club.
Recent reports claimed that we were simply awaiting for White to return from holiday to complete his medical before the deal could be announced officially, with the DailyMail claiming the date will be Monday July 26th and former Gunner Parlour that he will be a ‘good signing’ even though the fee is on the excessive side.
“£50 million, which is a lot of money,” Parlour told TalkSPORT. “But he’s a good player. He will certainly be in that England squad going forward in many tournaments.
“Chilwell and Walker went for £50 million. Obviously, Harry Maguire is the record. He went for £85 million, didn’t he?!
“But he will definitely play at centre-half for Arsenal, Ben White. 23-years-old. He’s going to sign a five-year contract.
“It just shows the way some players go. Newport County, he was playing for three years ago. So, he has gone to Brighton. He has done really well and now he’s going to be playing for Arsenal.
“The Arsenal fans will be happy with that – I think that’s a good signing for Arsenal even though it’s a lot of money.”
When you consider that he was Gareth Southgate’s fifth choice at centre-back this summer, his asking price definitely sounds a little excessive, but Arsenal and England have different styles of play, and we are not simply signing him for today, but also investing in what he can bring to the club for the upcoming years.
If you think White’s asking price is excessive, we could look at Jadon Sancho’s fee also, considering Sancho was England’s seventh choice for the wide role, behind all of Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and even Mason Mount for the wide attacking role, and is expected to cost over 50% more than we are set to pay for White.
Is the White fee excessive or will it prove to be value for money?
Patrick
personally I think the fee is too much and I hope it does not back fire like the Pepe deal.
His height is concerning, but also saw a few clips where players like Rashford turning him inside out.
If Ben White is such a fantastic player why was he just chosen in the last minute and didn’t play a minute in the EUROS. I agree with Mambo “his height is concerning”. But Arteta wanted him and let’s hope he is right with this signing. Worth 50 mill £? I doubt, but in the long run maybe.
If someone like Ray Parlour has praised him, White must be good, but I agree the fee is on the higher side. But if Arteta has brought him for a specific purpose, for carrying the ball from the back, lets hope it works and anyway if White is coming, lets support him and hope he succeeds for Arsenal.
If Ben White plays a starting role to get us qualify for UCL in the next three seasons, it’ll be a bargain buy. On the other hand, if we are to lose him before his contract is up, then to recoup the same amount with at least a 20% profit margin for our current investment, it’ll be consider a good bargain too.
Arsenal can’t win whatever they do!
For years they were criticized for not spending, then when they do go big, they get criticized again!
We are paying over the odds, but not by much in my opinion. White is young, already a quality player with massive potential, EPL experience, and versatile. Brighton don’t need to sell either, which will always make it more expensive.
Also, big clubs don’t mind paying over the odds, so I am glad we are acting like a big club again.
Spot on
They need to sell because they have debt to pay and they are clever enough to let us play higher than the boy actually worth. I read somewhere they made a loss of about £60m or more and they borrrowed £36m from day which will be deducted from next season tv right money. I don’t have problems with the amount we are quoted paying for him as long as we also get enough from our players. We need to stop selling cheaply. Chelsea just got £20m from CP for an iunknown player and Pool about to get 15m for Wilson why we put a price of under 20m our two most experienced players.
I would love to read Jon Fox take on this piece. Ha ha
Why are you laughing at your own puzzling comment? The superfluous “ha ha” told me that you do NOT actually want my view.
Let’s not be too harsh in judging hm before he’s even kicked a ball for us. Yes, he’s not the towering 6ft3 and above we’ve come to expect from defenders, but this is the first time in a long time we’ve picked the pockets of a fellow PL club when the player is young and with resell value, unlike some other baffling pieces of business we’ve conducted (*cough* Willian *cough*).
Let’s be honest, Brighton are currently closer to being called our rivals than most of the other clubs we traditionally competed against, just based off our previous league position. You could argue we’re weakening the competition 😛
Those that have the audacity to even suggest that fans should shut up simply because Arsenal has splashed the cash, have lost the plot…the real issue is a little more nuanced than that, as the underlying issue wasn’t just about the amount of investment, but how these available funds were spent…far too often, monies were spent on pseudo-luxury buys before properly addressing our most pressing needs…of course, having the luxury to do both would be the best case scenario, if done wisely, but since that generally hasn’t been the case for our club, since arriving at the Emirates, in a given window, it’s imperative that we follow a logical prioritized list so that we don’t continue to repeat the all-too-familiar mistakes of the past