Phil Hay has been speaking on the latest edition of The Athletic’s The Phil Hay Show about all things relating to Leeds United.
One of the topics that came up ahead of the Whites’ clash with Brighton & Hove Albion was Ben White, and Hay was asked if he thinks the Seagulls regret not selling the 23-year-old to Leeds in the summer.
White spent last season on loan at Elland Road and made 46 league appearances in which he earned an impressive average rating of 7.09.
Leeds then had three bids rejected for White by Brighton in the summer, and he has played 19 games for them this season in various positions.
However, Hay is unsure if the Seagulls do regret keeping White.
He said: “I don’t know, is the honest answer. Certainly from speaking to our Brighton correspondent, I don’t get that impression, but it’s not the sort of thing that the club would admit openly or even be loose-tongued about.
“I think some of his performances, they’ve been very happy with, but he has shifted about and he has been used in unusual roles.”
Hay then went on to explain why the Whites thought they could have signed White last summer.
“One of the reasons why Leeds thought they might have some success with their offers in the summer was because there were multiple centre-backs at Brighton and the question was, is he going to play? How much is he going to play? And set against that, isn’t £25m-£30m a great offer for somebody who hasn’t played in the Premier League yet, but looks like he has got vast potential?
“But Brighton were utterly resistant to the offers that Leeds were making.”
TIF Thoughts on White…
The 23-year-old instead of moving to Leeds signed a new deal with the Seagulls and has played a lot of games but just not all in his natural position.
So, it will be interesting to see where he lines up against the Whites on Saturday.
Hay appears to be unsure if Brighton regret not selling White to Leeds, but if you look at his current value of £19.8m, then you could say they were wrong to keep him.