Speaking on the Phil Hay Show, The Athletic journalist has given a positive update on the future of Ben White, suggesting that he looks likely to stay beyond January.
What’s he said?
White has been imperious for Leeds this season, earning various compliments from fans and quickly becoming one of the very best defenders in the Championship.
He won the supporters’ Player of the Month award all the way back in August and he hasn’t looked back since.
The 22-year-old has been part of a backline that’s conceded just 13 goals in 22 matches. In the process, White has won a mightily impressive 3.4 aerial duels per outing as well as achieving 2.5 interceptions.
Whether or not he is recalled by Brighton in January remains to be seen, but Hay has remained upbeat about Leeds’ chances of keeping his services until the end of the current campaign.
“The noise from Leeds is that they think he will be here until the end of the season. The noises from the Brighton end, similarly, seem to indicate that he will as well. You’d think that if somebody was about to go big and was looking to get it done next month that Brighton would have wind of that by now. I think they’ll be okay with that one.”
Promotion hopes boosted
There’s no doubting that Leeds would be in bother if Brighton recalled White in January. After all, they’d be left with just two senior options at centre half – Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi.
With that in mind and the performances he’s produced in west Yorkshire to date, he’d be a huge loss to their chances of going up and finally reaching the promised land of the Premier League.
Hay went onto state in his podcast that Leeds could be in the discussion for his permanent signature if they go up but with plenty of teams swooping around the defender, it would be a hotly contested race.
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A number of top clubs have been credited with an interest in the youngster and that’s why there have been fears over his future next month in the first place.
Manchester United and Liverpool are two of the clubs in the race while Chelsea are another side to have thought about a potential move.
However, based on Hay’s quotes, it looks as though that won’t happen until next summer at the very earliest. This can only be positive for Marcelo Bielsa and his side.
In other news, one Leeds man has recently shown why promotion is anything but assured…
