Benjamin White (4)

[Nuggets]

He cost 50 million, he wasn’t worth it. It’s not trolling it’s fact. I personally don’t think he’s all that, he’s ok but if I had a choice to get the 50 million back I would and invest in someone else who is worth that amount.

I think spending 50 million on him last summer was a mistake, I think we should have spent that on a striker.

Now there's a thought.

[Power n Glory]

I like the player but we spent too much on him.

[themessiah]

Tbf I like him but Gabriel, White also and Ramsdale was absolutely poor in the last three game on the pitch. They have all had . Very good seasons until this bad run.

[firfi]

Tbf I like him but Gabriel, White also and Ramsdale was absolutely poor in the last three game on the pitch. They have all had . Very good seasons until this bad run.

Don't really think Ramsdale has done any major mistakes to be fair to him.Not the best save % ,but none of the goals we're really his fault.
White would be amazing in back 3 as the guy in the middle that can up the pitch a bit , and we can easily bring Saliba to play in the back 3 with Tomiyasu being able to cover there as well and we get 1 good right back to play offensive like Lamptey or something.
On the left side Tavares would be way better protected and can express himself and Tierney can do it all.
Having said that hes been piss poor in the last few games ,but i don't really think its their fault we lost all the games if u get attacked all game by other sides ur bound to make mistakes at one point of the season.

[KG3]

I like the player but we spent too much on him.

Poor again yesterday, 50 million really was a lot for this guy.

Said this from day one, 20 million player at best should have put the money towards Schick and bought Saliba into the fold

[Santi]

Brighton were never selling for less than 40m so can't really be mad what we paid. I think he's been really good with a silly few moments thrown in.

Only hope was Brighton having a bad season or getting relegated if we wanted to wait a year and get him for 30m or so. They rejected 40m from Leeds before he'd even played in the PL.

[jayramfootball]

Brighton were never selling for less than 40m so can't really be mad what we paid. I think he's been really good with a silly few moments thrown in.

Only hope was Brighton having a bad season or getting relegated if we wanted to wait a year and get him for 30m or so. They rejected 40m from Leeds before he'd even played in the PL.

It's a premium that has long been around for top English players - not sure why but it is what it is.
Also, he's been levels above Varane this year and I recall people moaning at the time that Utd got Varane for what - £41m with add ons.

[Salibatelli]

Brighton were never selling for less than 40m so can't really be mad what we paid. I think he's been really good with a silly few moments thrown in.

Only hope was Brighton having a bad season or getting relegated if we wanted to wait a year and get him for 30m or so. They rejected 40m from Leeds before he'd even played in the PL.

Leeds made 3 bids up to 25 million from looking it up, thats half what we paid.

[jayramfootball]

Brighton were never selling for less than 40m so can't really be mad what we paid. I think he's been really good with a silly few moments thrown in.

Only hope was Brighton having a bad season or getting relegated if we wanted to wait a year and get him for 30m or so. They rejected 40m from Leeds before he'd even played in the PL.

Leeds made 3 bids up to 25 million from looking it up, thats half what we paid.

They didn't get him.
We could bid £1m for Haaland if we wanted, but we wouldn't get him.

As Santi pointed out - Brighton were holding out for £40m at that time which is why Leeds could not get the deal done.
We had our own bid of £40m then rejected later.
We had a choice of paying a premium or walking away - we decided on the former and I am glad we did.
We got an excellent player who will contribute for years and still have value at 27/28 after going 5 years to Arsenal. It's good business.

Is it possible we could have got a player who could have contributed even more this season? Sure. That's the same for any big transfer - whether it be Ozil, Auba, Laca, Pepe, whoever.

The opportunity cost argument is always nebulous because it is not based on any reality - just speculation.

[theHotHead]

Yeah but we didn't need to spend £50m on a CB, it doesn't matter how much Brighton wanted, we didn't need to spend that money. That money would've been better spent elsewhere.

[jayramfootball]

Yeah but we didn't need to spend £50m on a CB, it doesn't matter how much Brighton wanted, we didn't need to spend that money. That money would've been better spent elsewhere.

Where would it have been better spent?
Which player and which position?

[theHotHead]

Yeah but we didn't need to spend £50m on a CB, it doesn't matter how much Brighton wanted, we didn't need to spend that money. That money would've been better spent elsewhere.

Where would it have been better spent?
Which player and which position.

The obvious position was a CF to allow Arteta's game to take benefit of it, not dick around trying to get Auba or Laca to play a role they so obviously can't play.

CM needed to be strengthened, Partey was semi injured last season and Xhaka is shit. We cheaped out and bought Lokonga who clearly isn't ready. Arteta f***ked off Torrieira and Guendouzi, if he was going to do that he should've brought in a good quality CM to support Partey.

[UFGN]

I think White will prove to be a very good purchase over the length of his contract

[jayramfootball]

Yeah but we didn't need to spend £50m on a CB, it doesn't matter how much Brighton wanted, we didn't need to spend that money. That money would've been better spent elsewhere.

Where would it have been better spent?
Which player and which position.

The obvious position was a CF to allow Arteta's game to take benefit of it, not dick around trying to get Auba or Laca to play a role they so obviously can't play.

CM needed to be strengthened, Partey was semi injured last season and Xhaka is shit. We cheaped out and bought Lokonga who clearly isn't ready. Arteta f***ked off Torrieira and Guendouzi, if he was going to do that he should've brought in a good quality CM to support Partey.

I don't think CF was the obvious position at all.
In general the world and his wife thought Auba was more than good enough,
He'd just signed a huge contract the year before.
Very few people thought he would repeat the previous season's poor form.

So we bring in a replacement to Xhaka then - so now we have to be sure he's going to be better and even if he is we have Holding in defence with Gabriel. Congratulations, you just took away probably the best defensive partnership we've had in years in order to replace Xhaka, who's played well this year.

Which player was out there that we should have bought to replace Xhaka?
Which CF should we have bought to replace Auba at the time - and moreover who was saying we needed to replace him?

Get to the specifics - not just fanciful thinking on positions based on hindsight.

[theHotHead]

Yeah but we didn't need to spend £50m on a CB, it doesn't matter how much Brighton wanted, we didn't need to spend that money. That money would've been better spent elsewhere.

Where would it have been better spent?
Which player and which position.

The obvious position was a CF to allow Arteta's game to take benefit of it, not dick around trying to get Auba or Laca to play a role they so obviously can't play.

CM needed to be strengthened, Partey was semi injured last season and Xhaka is shit. We cheaped out and bought Lokonga who clearly isn't ready. Arteta f***ked off Torrieira and Guendouzi, if he was going to do that he should've brought in a good quality CM to support Partey.

I don't think CF was the obvious position at all.
In general the world and his wife thought Auba was more than good enough,
He'd just signed a huge contract the year before.
Very few people thought he would repeat the previous season's poor form.

So we bring in a replacement to Xhaka then - so now we have to be sure he's going to be better and even if he is we have Holding in defence with Gabriel. Congratulations, you just took away probably the best defensive partnership we've had in years in order to replace Xhaka, who's played well this year.

Which player was out there that we should have bought to replace Xhaka?
Which CF should we have bought to replace Auba at the time - and moreover who was saying we needed to replace him?

Get to the specifics - not just fanciful thinking on positions based on hindsight.

I am not a football scout, I don't need to give you specifics, I don't have a database of footballers to refer to. All I need to do is talk common sense. there are thousands of professional footballers out there, Arsenal has an extensive scouting network, they should be able to work it out.

If you are going to play football that requires a CF to hold up the ball (Laca can do that - Auba can't) and get on the end of crosses (Laca can't do that) you need a CF capable of doing both. It is clear that it was the way Arteta wanted to play because the team slung in 1 million crosses last season and we didn't do shit with them. It was no surprise to any of us that we struggled again this season to convert crosses because we had nobody there to get on the end of them.

Our midfield was weak, Xhaka is shit like we all know, Elneny is a basic CM capable of doing a reasonable job as a holding midfielder. Knowing that Partey suffered from multiple injuries last season it was not a given that the same would not happen this season, Arteta should have had a contingency plan for Partey's absence. That plan was to play a young-ling with zero Premier League experience next to one of the slowest players in the entire 5 football leagues - Xhaka. And people wonder why we are where we are right now ?!!! You can't possibly tell me Lokonga was the best we could do in that position.