Brighton can’t lose no matter what happens to Ben White this summer

There has been a lot of spitting feathers done so far this summer by fans of both Brighton & Hove Albion and The Leeds United when it comes to the future of Ben White.

From a Leeds point of view, that is understandable. They do not own their Player of the Year from their Championship winning season and have no say in whether he returns to Elland Road. It is little wonder that their fans are clutching to straws, hay and bits of grass that White will be back in white next season.

Twitter has been full of fantastic reasons that the defender will be rejoining Leeds. Him celebrating promotion with his teammates is apparently a sign that he hates Brighton; his girlfriend is from Yorkshire and it is therefore inconceivable that he could move to back Sussex; and best of all, White is under 24 so if he writes to the FA and says Brighton are holding him against his will, the governing body will cancel his contract.

Brighton fans have less reason to get caught up in all the drama because whatever happens with Ben White, the Albion cannot lose. There are three possible outcomes to the Ben White transfer saga – he moves to Leeds for big money, he moves to one of the big six for big money or he stays at Brighton. Any of those outcomes is a win for the Seagulls.

The only way that Leeds are getting their hands on White is if they pay a massive fee. Brighton would be loathe to sell to a relegation rival, so the Champions of Europe would need to make it really worth the Albion’s wild.

White seems to be valued generally at around £35 million. Tony Bloom would not countenance strengthening a side who Brighton can expect to be in direct competition with in the bottom half of the table in 2020-21 unless it were for an offer that was mind blowing. We are talking around the £45 million to £50 million mark.

However good White has been for Leeds in the 2019-20 season, that is a huge amount of money. Do a newly promoted club really want to pay out the fourth-highest transfer fee for a defender in Premier League history for a player who has never kicked a ball in the top flight in his life?

If they do, then fair play to them. White might go onto help Leeds stay in the Premier League and become the England international that many are tipping him to be. But he might not. Such a big fee is a gamble.

There is no might about what the Albion get out of the deal – £50 million for a player in a position in which Brighton are well stocked which can then be reinvested in two £25 million attacking reinforcements. Brighton win.

Now at this stage, Leeds fans might be thinking that they will not have to pay that much as Ben White could force through a move from Brighton. He could hand in a transfer request or refuse to play.

That might work at some clubs, but not Brighton. Bloom has never given in to the demands of an individual who has handed in a transfer request, as Elliott Bennett and Lewis Dunk can testify and it is six long years since the Albion sold a player they did not want to.

Leonardo Ulloa was the last, moving to Leicester City in the summer of 2014 for £8 million. Bloom and Brighton learnt about the perils of selling your best players the hard way as Ulloa was replaced by Chris O’Grady and the Albion went from finishing in the Championship’s top six in back-to-back season to avoiding relegation to League One by the slimmest of margins.

The only way that White is moving to Elland Road is if Leeds pay Bloom’s asking price. It will be the same story if one of the big six come in too – which would not be a surprise given that he has been linked with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton.

Bloom would probably be more willing to sell to one of the big six, which may reduce the price that they would have to pay for White. The Liverpools and Citys of this world also have wealth which far outstrips Leeds’ bank balance.

£45 million on White would represent a significant chunk of Marcelo Bielsa’s transfer budget. To Pep Guardiola, it is spare change which he can happily chuck on an unproven player in the top flight – especially as he has already spent an eye watering £365 million of Abu Dhabi’s petrol money on defenders in four years at the Etihad Stadium.

A move to a Champions League challenger seems the most likely outcome at this moment in time. Which the Albion won’t mind at all as it will give Graham Potter a huge sum of money to spend. Brighton win again.

The final option is that nobody meets Brighton’s valuation of White and he remains a Brighton player. It would be the second summer running in which Potter has seen his squad boosted by the best defender in the Championship following last year’s £18 million capture of Adam Webster from Bristol City.

White staying is very obviously an Albion win. Not only does it strengthen Brighton’s astonishing defensive options, but it also might make it easier for Bloom to let Lewis Dunk complete a deserved move to one of the big boys.

We could keep White and still end up raking £45 million for Dunk, not to mention further money for Shane Duffy and perhaps Bernardo, Martin Montoya and Matt Clarke.

The transfer window remains open to October 5th. By the end of it, White might be a Leeds player. He might be a Liverpool player. He might be a Chelsea player. Or he could even be a Brighton player.

Whatever happens though and wherever White ends up, the Albion can’t lose.