No longer houseboat, lots of links coming in now that we are seriously in for him. Brighton wants 40-50m for him and Orny says fee unlikely to deter us.
Looks like he will be our main RCB to partner Gabriel/Mari.
You wonder what this means for Holding/Saliba/Chambers but put the messages together and it is bad news for Saliba it seems
What a waste of money that would be. Arteta must think he’s still at Man City.
It ain’t happening.
Can't say I wouldn't be excited by that signing, as odd as it seems. If we can flip Saliba or Holding for good money, and it doesn't interfere with the rest of our transfer plans, I say go for it.
You can only laugh at our transfer strategy.
I really like White but our money should but put to better use.
I really like Ben White too and think we should have been looking at him last summer before he got expensive, but we should have a no-centreback transfer policy at the moment. It feels very hard to justify spending more money on the central defence when we don't have a central midfield, don't have a rightback and still lack a creative spark.
Good player but a tad expensive.
We need backup GK, a starting RB, back-up LB, 1 minimum midfielder probably 2 (1 CM with Xhaka/Elneny both going and 1 further up like Buendia), possibly 1 winger and definitely 1 forward. Why?
Bellerin is done, Tierney is injury prone, No bodies in CM, No chance creators in AM's, Only one decent winger and Laca is busted while Auba is 33 in 12 months.
Along with White would be a big spend
I can think
Xhaka 18m
Guendouzi 10m
AMN 25m
Kolanisac free
Lacazette 15-20m
Elneny 5m
Bellerin 20m
What else?
White is absolute class, IMO the best English CB at the moment and a superb passer out from the back. Intelligent in positioning, doesn't dive into tackle. Shades of a young Rio Ferdinand.
But given all our pressing needs and Saliba's quality our transfer strategy is really questionable. Unless we are selling Holding then it make sense.
We are trying to chase Kounde, Tapsoba but apparently they do not want to move to a club without UCL so its clear we are definitely making CB a priority.
Only way this makes sense is if Arteta plans to use him as a DM.
don't understand our strategy here. unless the kroenkes are really letting edu and co cut loose in this window, it feels like that 40m could be used elsewhere
I’m going to assume this means the wallet is open this summer because by all accounts we’re after players in several other positions too, nothing else really explains this level of indulgence.
Also if we’re selling a centre back as a result (surely?) I hope it’s Holding and not Billy.
He’s talented but I’d rather go for a more imposing figure. For years we’ve been prone to being bullied by teams and that won’t change with Ben White.
Not seen him play that much and he was hardly memorable whenever I’ve seen Brighton play.
£40m is a bit excessive but maybe he is our Luiz replacement if he is that good on the ball.
Don’t like him.
Very simple passer, afraid to make progressive passes through the lines.
Defensively I prefer Dunk to him.
Seriously wonder what is going on when we already have Saliba.
Saliba is 5 times the player.
We could probably get Hakimi for that kind of fee. If I had to compare him to someone it would probably be Koscielny. But he's going for that high price because of the English tax.
He’s very good with the ball and agile. Would certainly help us with our play out from the back.
Not sure what it would mean for Holding or Saliba
If Holding is leaving this makes a lot of sense. Homegrown, super talented, etc. Sad if it means the end for Saliba, never had a beginning.
if this link is serious we are probably going back to 3-4-3, or at least a hybrid.
