It looks like Ben White has all but sealed a £50m move to Arsenal, but former England international Carlton Palmer reckons Everton could have signed the highly rated centre-back.
The 23-year-old was recently selected in Gareth Southgate’s provisional Euro 2020 squad and made his debut off the bench in England’s 1-0 win against Austria, before making his first start against Romania.
His call up to the England squad was a reward of a terrific season with Brighton and Hove Albion, as the club staved off relegation, finishing 16th in the Premier League.
The highly rated player was subject to a lot of transfer speculation last summer with Leeds United chasing his signature, but he remained on the south coast for another season.
It now looks likely he will move on to the Emirates Stadium, but former Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday star Palmer reckons Everton could have matched Arsenal’s bid of £50m.
“Everton can pay £50m. Arsenal are a massive club down south, Everton are massive club up north, and it just depends what the player wants, where the player wants to go.”
With White looking likely to choose a move to London over Merseyside, Palmer reckons that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta needs to find his own style of football saying: “I think Arteta needs to find his own brand of football.
“Man City play a brand of football that Guardiola has been able to do because he’s had money at his disposal to go and buy the best players in the world. Arsenal don’t have that, and so Arteta has to find an identity of his own for Arsenal.”