Free Ben White to Manchester United and reinvest in a striker
There are still two months of the 2020-21 Premier League season remaining and already the Ben White rumour mill has started turning with the Brighton defender being linked with a summer move to Manchester United.
None of this comes as a surprise. White has proven himself in his first top flight campaign to be every bit as good as we hoped he would be after stepping up from a season on loan in the Championship with 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United.
White’s form at Elland Road attracted the interest of all of the big six at one point or another last year. An interested party would have been mad though to pay the £35 million plus Brighton wanted in pre-season, before White had even kicked a ball in the Premier League and with no guarantees he would succeed.
It is a very different picture a year on. Any suitor can fork out a big free safe in the knowledge that they are getting one of the best young English defenders around.
Not only is White solid defensively, but he can step into midfield with the ball at his feet, pop up and contribute to attacks in the final third and is comfortable enough in possession to suit any side who want to play out from the back. Even Manchester City under Pep Guardiola.
Last summer Brighton were determined to keep White, although that resolve was helped by the fact that Leeds were the only side to put an offer on the table. Tony Bloom was never likely to sanction a sale that strengthened a side the Albion would be aiming to take points off in 2020-21.
Selling Ben White to Manchester United should be much more tempting for Bloom – if the price is right – especially as it would be a move to suit all parties.
The Red Devils get a player who will undoubtedly improve their defence and whose best years are still ahead of him. White moves to one of the biggest clubs in the world where he will get the chance to win trophies and play for England. Brighton get a club-record fee to be reinvested where it is really needed – in a clinical centre forward.
Here comes the part where we have to mention xG again, as is the case in practically everything written about Brighton at the minute. If the Albion had a striker capable of taking the countless opportunities Graham Potter’s side create, then according to the xG table Brighton would be fifth.
Thursday night trips to Czech Republic and Belarus in the Europa League would be on the cards rather than the prospect of Tuesday evenings in Luton and Rotherham back in the Championship.
White is an excellent player but Brighton are so well stocked for defenders that Potter has found himself cramming five centre backs into his starting XI at times this season.
If White departed, the Albion would still have Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Dan Burn to call upon. Joel Veltman has been so good deputising at right wing back for Tariq Lamptey that it is easy to forget he spent most of his Ajax career as a central defender.
Once Michal Karbownik has been integrated, then Karbownik can provide back up to Lamptey and Veltman is free to revert to a role in the back three.
Then there are Brighton’s young players out on loan. Leo Ostigard has shone in the Championship with Coventry City and has already publicly said if he is not given a crack at senior football next season then he wants his next departure from Brighton to be a permanent one.
Matt Clarke is in his second season at Wayne Rooney’s Derby County having won Player of the Season at Pride Park in 2019-20. Jan Paul van Hecke is on loan in the Netherlands with Heerenveen after Brighton paid a rumoured £1.8 million for his services from NAC Breda last summer.
Haydon Roberts meanwhile is only 18-years-old but highly rated and currently following the path set by Robert Sanchez by spending a season with Rochdale.
All those options mean that Brighton could sell Ben White to Manchester United in the summer and although a blow to lose a quality defender, the Albion would cope.
Being compensated to the tune of £40 million to £50 million would certainly soften the blow; and given United paid £80 million for Harry Maguire and Ed Woodward’s negotiating skills make the current Brexit mess look like the best deal in history, Brighton could probably squeeze even more out of United if they tried.
The noise from the club over the past month or so has very much been that we should expect at least one major player sale this summer. Nobody could complain about that; the last first choice player Brighton sold was Leonardo Ulloa seven years ago.
With losses of £67 million, the Albion will not be going on the sort of £60 million plus spending sprees we saw ahead of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons again anytime soon.
Instead, the club seem certain to have to accumulate before they speculate – and those xG stats tell you that the need for a striker is pretty bloody desperate if Brighton are to be anything more than relegation candidates year after year.
Free Ben White to join Manchester United, let him go onto develop and have the career he deserves, reinvest most of the cash on a centre forward to turn Brighton into a top 10 side and use the money leftover to offset 2020-21’s inevitable losses.
It would be a rare transfer that makes sense for everyone involved – presuming of course Brighton are not consigned to the Championship come May. In which case, White will be heading out the door for a cut-price fee – and he will not be the only one.
