Arsenal have finally completed the £50m signing of highly-rated centre-back Ben White. He will be a welcome addition to Mikel Arteta’s side bringing pace and comfortability on the ball, something that would’ve been missing due to the departure of David Luiz.
However, fans are split on exactly how much the defender is worth and if it was the right decision to sign him. The fans should take a step back and realize that this signing has a lot of positives about it. One of the main issues that fans have with the transfer is the price tag for the centre-back.
While it can be argued that the north Londoners may have overpaid for the player, this was a player that Arteta really wanted and the club managed to acquire their target. In the past, we missed on many transfer targets because the club decided to haggle over a few million pounds.
There are countless examples of this and fans have to look no further than a few weeks back when the club were embarrassingly beaten to Emi Buendia by Aston Villa, who decided to pay what was required to get the player. It has even been said by fans of the club to pay a little over the odds if that’s what’s needed to get the player that is needed.
Now that the club has done so, it should be applauded and looked at as a positive sign from the club that there is actually some ambition to aggressively go after a player and get him even if they had to spend a few extra million pounds. Another positive is the fact that Arteta got a player to fit his style of play.
Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come in the future where if the manager really wants a player, the price tag won’t be as big of a stumbling block as it has in the past. Arteta wanted a ball-playing centre-back and even though he was a bit pricey, the club made it happen. He also fits the homegrown quota requirement and has a good year of experience in the Premier League.
Add the fact that he also became an England international this year and it is understandable why a few more million might have been added on to his fee. One of the most important reasons why fans should feel like the club has made a good signing is because they have signed a player who really wanted to come to the club.
Some players want Champions League football or they want to play for a club they see as bigger or more successful than Arsenal at the moment but Ben White wanted to be a Gunner used the word “buzzing” to describe the feeling of becoming part of the Arsenal project. The Emirates club have gone for players too many times in the last few years that were older players who required high wages and ended up with no resale value.
This signing is a young homegrown player who wants to continue to grow and develop at the north London club. At just 23, he’ll fit in with a group of young stars who are the core of the Gunners’ future. Fans should definitely want this kind of player at the club instead of players who need reasons other than playing for Arsenal to come to the club.
There has been a lot of comparisons to the price of other centre-backs but fans should be happy because Arteta has the man he wanted, the player wanted to be a Gunner, he’s young, hungry and willing to prove himself at the next level, and Arsenal have proven that they can go into a transfer and get the player they want without penny-pinching. Fans should come away from this deal feeling good about the player and the way the club handled this transfer. The club acted like the big club they are and hopefully, this is something the fans can get used to.
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