Leeds United: Phil Hay and Tom Worville provide Ben White transfer update

According to recent reports, Leeds United will attempt to sign Brighton & Hove Albion centre-back, Ben White, permanently this summer, after an extremely successful loan spell at Elland Road.

The report by Phil Hay and Tom Worville for The Athletic claims that White, who played every minute for Leeds in their promotion and title-winning 2019/20 Championship campaign, will be pursued this summer by Marcelo Bielsa’s side.

However, the report goes on to claim that the Whites will be ‘met with resistance from Brighton’ and are ‘resigned to White’s value rocketing’ due to his impressive performances with Leeds.

Here’s exactly what was said:

‘Leeds will attempt to sign loanee White permanently from top-flight Brighton & Hove Albion and with good reason. He played every single minute (4,140 in total) under Bielsa in the league this season — the only Leeds player to do so — and displayed exceptional quality, with the ball and without it.

‘Leeds expect to be met with resistance from Brighton and are resigned to White’s value rocketing on the back of his first year in the Championship. He remains their No 1 defensive target, however, and Brighton’s offers of a new contract to the 22-year-old in the past few months have yet to meet his demands. Brighton also signed Ajax and Holland centre-back Joel Veltman this week. White is, in many ways, Bielsa’s perfect centre-back: excellent at anticipating and dealing with danger, precise and confident with his distribution and good at inspiring calm around him. Leeds conceded just 35 goals throughout their promotion campaign.

‘Leeds intend to go domestic if a deal for White cannot be reached and there are players in England with comparable traits.’

Impressive is rather an understatement for the defender, who was playing his first season at Championship level.

Over his 46 Championship appearances, White contributed one goal and two assists, as well as averaging 1.6 tackles, 2.5 interceptions and 2.7 clearances per game, in addition to making 56.2 passes on average per fixture, and a pass completion rate of 84.6%.

These statistics culminated in a 7.09 WhoScored average rating for the defender, enough to rank him as the club’s fifth-best performer over the course of the season, not bad going at all for a loan signing.

As such, it is no surprise to see that Hay and Worville believe that ‘hanging onto White remains the priority‘ for Bielsa this summer, as losing a defender of the 22-year-old’s quality would certainly be a big loss prior to the club’s first season in the Premier League for 16 years.

TIF Thoughts…

While it has been reported that Liverpool, Manchester United, Wolves and Leicester City have all shown an interest in White following his remarkable season in the Championship, it is our belief that Leeds United should do everything in their power to make the defender’s loan deal a permanent one this summer.