Ben White is officially an Arsenal player after around a month of negotiations.
The defender joins from Brighton for a fee believed to be around the £50 Million mark, after a long-drawn out negotiation process with his former club.
Our bid to complete the signing was initially hampered by a stubborn Seagulls side who stood firm in their valuation, before we had to wait for the England international to complete his duty with the national team, before going on a much-deserved break, before he finally returned to undergo the medical process.
Finally, with all the paperwork complete, we have finally announced the signing of Ben White.
Sorry we're late…
Traffic was a nightmare 😉 pic.twitter.com/sO1T9981Rw
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) July 30, 2021
We can now turn our attentions to other areas of the team, following the signings of Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares, with our squad shaping up nicely ahead of the new season.
We are used to seeing much of our transfer business being completed late in the window, but the club seem keen to do things differently this summer, and I cannot wait to see us reap the benefits from some top work behind the scenes.
Patrick
Great news but if we don’t sign a creative midfielder / Number 10 then we cannot consider this as a good transfer window. I’m not sure we need another striker for now. I want to see Martinelli get more minutes. We just need to improve our options in midfield.
OT
Xhaka apparently offered a new contract, any truth to this? I hope not…MA will start him in every game, he can’t help himself but do it.
I saw this being reported. Allegedly a wage incease and contract until 2025.
We’ll never learn. No one in the world will offer even 20mil but we extend the contract! I hope this is just to get a better price.
MartinelliTheBench, Extending his contract will only make it even harder to sell him now or in the future. With his wage increase potential suitors will find it difficult match or increase on the improved salary. So the whole nonsense about protecting his value is void, if roma are refusing to pay €20 now what makes people think two, three years into xhaka’s new contract with him entering into his thirties clubs will offer a higher transfer fee than in this window. His value only decreases from this point onwards
I 100% agree, I’m just desperately trying to find some kind of logical decision making where there is none.
Who do you want to comeand replace Xhaka. I think is better having something than none.
keeping the same squad intact will definitely get us above 8th 😂😂
The acquisition of three young players with scope for further development is the way ahead for Arsenal .Ben White is a fine centre back ,who apart from a lack of aerial domination ticks all the boxes in terms of defensive capability.I hope he goes on to have a very successful career with Arsenal.
Wow great news. If arsenal can spend 50mil on a defender, then I believe the club starting to change their transfer policy
welcom to the family BEN
I know some may disagree but we have bought 3 players (spending 85 mil) and not improved the first team at all. Tavares is Tierneys understudy, Lokonga is for the future and White is replacing our best Center Back from last season, Luiz, who is far more experienced and arguably better. We needed a boost in Midfield, up Front and a goalkeeper, as we only really have one to even challenge no1 spot. I hope for all our sakes we have a plan to improve on last season because at the moment i fail to see any if very little.
totally agree Reggie. White is a good signing, but doesnt address our core issues. It’s the same midfield, same forwards, same fullbacks with an extra understudy. We’ve finished 8th and the club is just not reacting. It’s total shambles and summer after summer of addressing the wrong issues either poorly or not at all leaves me with no optimism for a better August.
Yes RSH, welcome to Ben White the footballer but im struggling big style to see a plan, improvement and a better team developing.
Plus, if as muted we DO sign Odegaard (loan or buy) we still haven’t improved from last season. If we had kept Saliba, signed Maddison and Bissouma, then yes 100%, intent and improvement.
Hi Reggie the 3 ARE an upgrade – perhaps not a huge one but they are, but obviously being noobs thats subjective. I see White as way better than Luiz, who had his faults! And who is Lokonga’s competition in CM? Elneny?
I’m excited – not to see a team to win the Prem, but to see a big improvement and a lot of promise. A further jump up from ESR, Partey, GM and Pepe, introduction and big steps from Balogun and Azeez. Return to some form of Auba. All good. And we WILL get at least one CM or AM of good quality.
Personally i think you are stretching it a bit, in fact a lot. Luiz was our best defender and we were decent at defending last year. No way is white BETTER than Luiz, as good as nearly or maybe POTENTIALLY but in reality, NOT.
Your suggestion that White is a downgrade on Luis is utterly ludicrous and is influenced by your obsession to criticise Arteta at every opportunity.Your negativity never ceases to amaze me.
Grandad, you are writing things that have not been said. I said White isn’t an upgrade on Luiz, we didn’t need him in the great scheme to make us better before other positions. He is 50 mil spent in the wrong area. He doesn’t improve anything in defence because we were not that bad anyway. I have nothing against him personally but against why we bought him at the expense of other areas by our people at our club. Please stick to facts.
If Luiz was our best defender then I am sorry to say but our defensive line is awful! Luiz is a bad defender and everyone knows that and he is the butt of jokes in every club he played in except us which just shows you how low we have fallen!
Spot on Rachid.
Luiz was our best defender by a long way last season,facts are facts ,Ben white as been bought in to replace him like for like ,both fantastic at playing the long ball ,which Arteta favours .
Every game Luiz played we looked a better side always Looking to get the ball forward quick and pushing the team on .
Mistakes yes ,but to suggest he was a butt of jokes at all his clubs really does show that some of you didn’t actually watch us last season .
Ridiculous comment TBH
Rashid, your analysis is flawed and wrong completely. Luiz was up there as our best player last year and 100 % held our defence together to make them decent. I haven read anywhere from footballing professionals that know say any other than.
Agreed Dan, what do some people actually look at! Rediculous comments about Luiz from people.
To me, I think the signings are improvements on the squad,
Just because they don’t have EPL experience, doesn’t mean they can’t hit the ground running,
We have a problem of stamina and that has been addressed with this 3 signings,
Tavares and Lokonga would add speed, long-range shots and stamina, things we lack in a 3-4-3 formation,
Getting Bruno Guimaraes would also be lovely,
A midfield of Lokonga-Partey-Bruno would be awesome , With Smith-Rowe/Willock-Lacazette/Martinelli-Pepe/Saka all upfront.
with this we can play “a false 9 tactics”.
But Tavares and Lokonga wont start and you are guessing at their impact.
Yea we haven’t seen them play a challenging game but one thing I’m sure of, is they are bringing a lot of energy to the team,
They may turn out to be superstars but at the moment they aren’t improving us anywhere.
Welcome Ben
I hate that we paid £50 mil but i like Ben and we need to support him as he is a Gunner now 💕👍
I really don’t get the view that Saliba is the new Messiah. Even his manager at Marseille says he’s very raw.
Nobody is saying he is the new measiah at all, just that he cant be all that much different to White in essence. He has impressed all involved with him, except Arteta.
Please Guy read what i actually have PUT and if you dont understand what i am getting at, i can explain in less than 100000 words.
Blimey Ben
I hope you hit the ground running reading some of the comments – you need to
Welcome by the way
Don’t worry SueP, the word from fans who have actually watched Ben’s progress (fellow pro’s and those in and around the game) all points to this being a superb signing.
May be wrong, but I thought I saw Chelski and Manure (pre Varane) were sniffing around at one point.
Welcome to the Arsenal Ben, here’s to a long and successful career .
Ben White superb signing hahaha..he was not even the best rated player at club like Brighton. Where clubs are buying world class defenders like Varane we are buying Ben White for £50 million. Who on earth is doing these finencial dealings at Arsenal. CB was not even our priority. I hope this will stop some fans giving silly excuses on behalf of Arteta that he does not have this or that player because the funds have been provided like in last two transfer window as well but as usual Arteta and Edu wasted them.
Did I mention Arteta ????????????
Superb signing in Ben White , who’s signing was delayed as he was with the England squad.
Welcome to the Arsenal Ben, THOUSANDS will be behind you, and not want you to fail simply to point the finger at the manager ! !
Thinking similarly. Bring in Tammy Abraham and if possible bring back Odegaard. Then we are there
Tammy could not make it at Chelsea what makes you think he will be Good for us
I kinda agree with Reggie on this one. Although we have strengthened the squad, we haven’t strengthened the first 11.
He is spot on about it being the same 11 as last season bar Luiz and look where that got us.
Odegaard, for me would be underwhelming as I wasn’t that overly impressed by what I saw last season.
If we do get Odegaard, I would still be in the hope of an additional midfielder that is willing to carry the ball and not keep treating it like a hot potato. All we have is Saka and ESR that is willing to do that. (Martinelli, and Willock can also but will MA play them?)
Don’t get me started on Xhaka🤬
That is what we would have done,we would have kept saliba and sign bissouma and maddison.
I’m happy that Ben White is officially an Arsenal player, but seeing him hold up that No. 4 shirt makes me wonder what Arteta’s plans really are for William Saliba.
So we threw away another £50 million with style hahaha. Then ppl say that Arteta is not supported in transfer market. Money has been made available to the club in last 3-4 transfer windows but unfortunately they blew it big in deals like this then fans cry we don’t spend enough and manager does not have enough his own quality players what a joke this club and some fans are becoming.
i agree with u a lot keep saliba get Madison n vyes plus 1striker it would b a piece of business
Do people have a downer on White (before he’s kicked a ball) because he cost a lot, because he’s not a World Cup winner or because, unlike virtually every pundit out there, they think he’s no good? I really don’t get it.
Fans are jumping on the “not enough new signings to improve” bandwagon without for one moment considering that many of last season’s players will imporove this season. For example:
– Pepe finished like a train and looking sharp to get even better
– ESR after debut season will improve again
– Partey started poorly looked exhausted. Great pre-season expect to be back to best
– Auba looking sharp can’t be as poor as last time
– Martinelli injury knocked him back. More mature look to kick on
Throw in Balogun and Azeez to impress and the 3 noobs that may impress.
Throw in some real traing time, unlike last year.
Throw in a new CM
It’s not JUST about signing guys. Think developing what you have already as well!
Guy.
Agree..
Some of the comments on the signing are, in my opinion, quite embarrassing.
I would lay a very hefty wager, speak to fans who have actually watched him each week, pro’s and those in and around the game, they would say we have just landed a very very good player.
But hey, let’s use his name to basically snipe further at the manager.
Logic.
Leaving aside the Ha Ha Ha’s for a minute, let’s have a grown up comment from you.
M A has brought in a player who he see’s as being very adept at playing the ball from the back, picking the progressive ball nice and early thus speeding up our transitional play which is currently far too slow.
He is also very quick. Therefore as suspected if we play a high press next year, our defenders powers of recovery will be crucial.
Too many of our lot run up the white flag when the going gets tough, White will tough it out, he has a determined character.
He can play any of three positions, always an asset to any manager.
Kroenkes edict this window was to buy young, with potential to increase our asset base, although difficult to increase on a 50M outlay, time will tell.
White featured massively in Leeds Championship winning season ,was highly rated at Brighton and is currently in the England squad.
Has Varanne played EPL football ?
White is PREM fresh and ready to go.
But hey, let’s use White as a stick to further beat Arteta with !
We’ll see.
AJ, my point is that CB is not our biggest requirement at the moment and we go out there spend £50 million on the position when we know we don’t have same finencial power like Chelsea, city, Liverpool andan United. Also why did we sign/spend huge amount on Saliba as well then? It does not make sense because Saliba is also young, more rated then white. About Ben White being EPL ready, he played in championship that’s not EPL and he only had one season experience in EPL which can hardly count as experience/ready. He played for Brighton and even there he was not out standing. So what are you on about? Just because he is British is that the reason becuae he didn’t play a single match in Euro.
Also is Saliba slow and not tough enough. Look at his size to Ben White and also he is if not quicker then at same pace as white. Are you comparing him to Varane, the guy who has won all big trophies not only at club level but international as well. Who is regarded as one of the best defenders by people around world. Proven and experienced defender. Even if Ben White had 10 years of EPL experience any sensible man or any one who know a single thing about football would choose Varane.
About our transitional slow play Ben White is not going to solve this he is defender not midfielder. None of our defender were slow playing ball forward, do you think white can play ball forward quicker then David Luiz? If having David Luiz and Gabi in team did not resolve our transition issue then I don’t know how you think White will. Also our transition is slow due to Arteta’s tactics and slow midfield players who prefer to go sideways and back wards. You put a player like Santi in same team and you will see how quick we transition. When you play Elneny and Xhaka in middle what do you expect. Another reason is Pepe he hugs the ball too much and slows the game down. But again team transition, possession, counter attack all is based on manager tactics and how he sets up the team favouring which player. I am here and you are here as well, I will ask you at the end of season if £50 million for Ben White was right when we had better options available both inside the club and outside and how much he has helped with our lethargic slow football. We have same manager same tactics but people expect us to do wonders this season I don’t understand this at all. If you think the three players we have signed so far will transform our team and we will achieve different results then what can I say apart from this that ask you about your views after the next season.
And about your we’ll see, there are fans here who claimed same thing last season then disappeared and then came back with a single motive not to give excuse after excuse for failure along with too stubborn to concede they were wrong. I bet even if we finish same as last season or worst some fans like you will still find an excuse and put blame on others even COVID but never balme Arteta for it because that will mean they supported the wrong guy.
I supported Arteta
I still do as he is our manager going into the new season
I’ve previously made it clear that there can be no excuse for failure to improve our league position after his length of time in the job and with the new acquisitions. It’s more or less his team now and I expect better Any Arteta supporter will feel the same, I’m sure
In recent years I think all bar ManC have finished outside the top4. It’s hard to accept that the EPL has gone from a 2 horse race between us and ManU to a situation where about 8 clubs are serious contenders with big money ownership in support
I don’t want him to fail but you expect it and appear to be sharpening the knives before the season has started. Instead of looking forward to it, I’m grimly waiting for an ‘I told you so’ from a few people at the first sign of a wobble.
Have to agree, Logic, there are always excuses as far as Arteta is concerned… but as for the players – they’re done for, for sure!!
Well, I’m afraid this season there is nowhere to hide. No rookie label, no European football… entering the Carabao Cup in the 2nd round.. no reason why we can’t win a cup and finish higher than 8th, right?
Logic.
Agree to disagree.
In my opinion you are with respect so wrong on a number of the points this purchase was pursued so aggressively.
A massive part in the way Arteta wants to play and like it or not, he is the manager in situ.