Arsenal prepare concrete Ben White £50m transfer move

Mikel Arteta desperately wants another right centre-back at Arsenal. Linked with players across this summer transfer window, that couldn’t be more evident. The ones they are chasing are also extremely expensive and with resources limited, a move for Ben White asks plenty of recruitment questions.

Dissecting whether Ben White would improve Arsenal is the first port of call and the answer is a simple ‘yes’. A fine season in the Championship was followed by another excellent Premier League campaign with Brighton, one worthy of an England call-up to Euro 2020.

Throughout Arteta’s tenure fans have tried to understand the manager’s methods. He pushed through with a deal to sign Willian when there was a £72m right-winger on the books; Reiss Nelson was simply not fancied; William Saliba not trusted.

With the coming months of the season set to be his stay of execution; fail to start strongly and his job will become untenable. For that reason, his lack of faith in a Premier League untested 20-year-old Saliba is understandable to a degree. Arteta is not confident in either him or Rob Holding to steer his side to success yet.

Arsenal prepare concrete Ben White £50m transfer move in summer transfer window in huge deal for Mikel Arteta

White would take that slot in the team and allow Arsenal to push their backline forward a few yards and add progression from deep. He also boasts versatility at right-back and central midfield, but, he will also cost £40-£50m. As per The Athletic, Arsenal are not messing about and their interest is ‘concrete’ with a move being prepared for the 23-year-old centre-back. Any notion of the links being lazy were surprisingly wide of the mark.

As of yet there has been no contact between the clubs but that is expected ‘in due course’ and Brighton will not stand in White’s way if their valuation of £40-£50m is met.

Perhaps most alluring of all, and certain to be a dangerous line for fans to hang their hat on, is that the asking price ‘is unlikely to be insurmountable for Arsenal’. This is big, big money.

But there are a lot of questions to ask. It firstly couldn’t be clearer that Arteta does not have faith in Saliba. A near £30m centre-back hasn’t kicked a ball in north London for two years and upon his long-awaited arrival in the senior setup already work is underway to ensure he isn’t a regular starter.

Fans are desperate to see him play; for him to start. At some point you have to start trusting your talent; trusting your club’s investment. He’s still young and untested, however, and if a more senior option is available to bring success sooner, then Arteta will take it. It’s what he wants.

What about the money, though? It’s a huge figure and resource distribution has to be questioned.

Continued…