Manchester City are the latest club to be mentioned as a potential suitor for Brighton centre-back Ben White.
Arsenal are believed to be closest to signing the England international for £50m, but reports have suggested that the likes of City, Chelsea or Everton could hijack the Gunners’ deal for the 23-year-old.
Asked whether White would be a good addition to Pep Guardiola’s squad, most fans on Twitter were pretty dismissive, with many feeling that the money could be better spent elsewhere:
Use that money for a striker
— Colin (@BeckettColin) July 5, 2021
Regression if this happens
— 100k (@bitfinancepro) July 5, 2021
no looooool
— Agueroooo (@agueroooo4) July 5, 2021
He’s just otamendi with a British passport
— Marco?? (@Cancelocityv2) July 5, 2021
4th choice player for 40M +
Unnecessary imo
— ⁴⁷ (@goodkidMCFCity_) July 5, 2021
Why….
— Michael 韓 (@mic_hvn) July 5, 2021
No thank you 🙂 for 50 mill we can get a player twice as better as him from a different league
— Cyrus ??♂️ (@SilkyCyrus_74) July 5, 2021
There is certainly a case to be made that the Citizens would need to go out and sign another centre-half this summer if they end up offloading Aymeric Laporte. After all, they have also lost Eric Garcia to Barcelona and Guardiola won’t want a situation again where he is relying on just three players in the centre of defence.
Saying that, spending £50m on someone like White would be paying well over the odds, and it’s likely Txiki Begiristain has a list of alternatives who could be signed for a lot less.
