Speaking recently on The Square Ball podcast, Dan Moylan discussed the possibility of Leeds United making a move for Brighton & Hove Albion defender Ben White further down the line.
Following his season-long loan at Leeds last season, Ben White has gone from a being a defender whose highest level of football played was in League One while on loan at Peterborough United, to being one of the most coveted English centre-backs in the summer transfer market.
It is not difficult to see why. At Leeds, White started every single Championship fixture for Marcelo Bielsa’s side, chipping in with one goal and two assists, as well as averaging 1.6 tackles, 2.5 interceptions and 0.6 dribbles per game, in addition to completing on average 56.2 passes per match with an 84.6% success rate, culminating in a highly impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.09 – ranking him as the club’s fifth-best performer in the league.
As a result of his fine season, the 22-year-old has been linked with a summer move to the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and, rather obviously, Leeds.
However, Brighton appear adamant on retaining the services of the centre-back, rejecting multiple bids from Bielsa’s side, leaving Leeds with no other option but to look elsewhere for a new defender to fill the Ben White shaped hole, with the club announcing the signing of Robin Koch within the last week, whilst the Seagulls announced on Tuesday that the centre-back had signed a new deal with the club until 2024 (per BBC).
Although, speaking on The Square Ball podcast, Moylan suggested that there may be an opportunity for Leeds to bring White to Elland Road further down the line.
He said: “It will be interesting to chart his career path from here, because him staying at Brighton actually, given how this has unfolded, is possibly the least-worst option out of those on the table. Because he’s apparently got a contract on the table of £35,000 a week, five-year deal, with a pay rise built in each year – that was the report.
“The fact that he’s still at Brighton – and you would imagine there’s going to be a relegation release clause in that one – so there may be an opportunity further down the line, because you know how Leeds and Bielsa and [Victor] Orta get wedded to players, they may end up going back in for him – if, as we sincerely hope, Brighton get relegated this year.
“And it’s good for Brighton as well, because they will get a decent wedge for him, and then he gets to come to the club he wanted to come to in the first place.”
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Considering how hard Leeds pressed for White over the transfer window this summer, it would not be surprising to see, as Moylan suggests, the club go back in for the defender in the future, and, if Brighton were to get relegated next season, one would imagine it would make the prising of White away from the South Coast club a great deal easier.