Over the last two years, despite not winning any major honours Arsenal have mostly been a joy to watch. Winning games and scoring goals in style. But there’s one player that has been part of that rise who may not have the glamour and goals of a Bukayo Saka, or the majesty of a Martin Odegaard, but is just as important as the biggest names in Mikel Arteta’s team. And that player is Ben White.
White signed for Arsenal for £50 million from Brighton in the summer of 2021 in a move which was met by speculation from both fans and the mainstream media. Not necessarily because of the player himself, many could see the then 22 year-old was a talented defender and had won Brighton’s player of the season award for the 2020/21 season, but because it was a lot of money to be spending when many felt Arsenal had bigger problems in other areas of the pitch.
By the time summer 2021 came around Arsenal were in a very bad place. The club had finished 8th in the Premier League for a second consecutive season and this time had no FA Cup win to see them into Europe, playing in no continental competition for the first time in 20 years. Mikel Arteta was under pressure from fans who were beginning to lose patience with the ‘process’ the Spaniard had been talking about since becoming head coach in 2019, and owners KSE were also largely unpopular. White was the most expensive signing of a summer which also saw Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nuno Tavares, Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Martin Odegaard join the club. The signings signalled an intent on focusing on the future, but Arsenal needed progress now, and quickly.
Matters weren’t helped by a dreadful start to the season, with three loses from three condemning the Gunners to the foot of the Premier League table going into the first international break. White himself missed two of those games due to a positive COVID-19 test, but debuted on the opening game in a 0-2 defeat at Brentford and struggled at centre-back alongside Pablo Mari. However, things would improve for Arsenal. Three wins in a row followed, including a memorable 3-1 victory in the North London Derby at Emirates Stadium and Arsenal soon found themselves right in the mix for a top 4 finish. And although they collapsed at the end, the season showed promise and hope. Something Arsenal hadn’t had for a while. White enjoyed a solid first season in North London, being ever-present at the heart of Arsenal’s backline throughout the whole season and won over many of the Arsenal fans who had previously doubted him with his consistency and ball-playing ability.
With a sense of ‘now or never’ for Arsenal as they hunted for a return to the UEFA Champions League. Ambition was showed again in the summer window with Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko joining from Manchester City. However, another big move was made as William Saliba returned following another loan spell away from the club. The French defender had enjoyed a fabulous season at Marseille, winning the Ligue 1 young player of the year award in the process. However, with Saliba surely set to cement himself as a starting centre-back for Arsenal alongside Gabriel, what would happen to White?
Those questions were answered by Mikel Arteta when White was announced at right-back for the side’s season opener at Selhurst Park, it was another interesting move made by the Arsenal manager and another one which paid off massively. White had a superb showing up against Wilfried Zaha as Arsenal won 0-2, with Saliba putting in a MOTM performance in what was a fantastic defensive showing from the back four.
That game at Crystal Palace though would only be the beginning, and White once again was ever-present making over 30 Premier League starts for the second season running, but this time had to adapt to a new position. And not only did he do just that, but he was even better than the last campaign. White was the solid right-back Arsenal had been missing for years, fitting perfectly into this new Arteta system and his defensive know-how allowed for Zinchenko to easily invert into the midfield from left-back.
However, it wasn’t just defending which made White an instant success in his new position. The Englishman also sparked a brilliant partnership with Saka on the right hand-side, with the two frequently linking up which became a huge part of Arsenal’s attacking build-up. White also developed an ability to overlap on the outside of Saka and the defender’s crossing and attacking ability improved more and more as the season went on. He also grabbed his first goals for the Gunners, with his first for the club coming at home vs AFC Bournemouth as he got on the end of a Reiss Nelson cross at the back post to equalise at 2-2, ahead of a last-kick-of-the-game winner from Nelson in the 97th minute.
White’s superbly consistent form was a big reason why Arsenal shocked everyone to challenge Manchester City all the way in the 22/23 season but again, just missed out on what would’ve been an incredible achievement due to another drop-off in form towards the end of the season. But the goal at the start of the season had been done, as the club comfortably secured a return to the Champions League for the first time in seven years, with White starting every single one of the 38 league games, finishing the season with two goals and five assists in the process. Asserting himself as one of the first names on the team sheet.
The current campaign has been similar, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are once again challenging for the Premier League title and remain in the Champions League where they soon face Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. And once again White has been consistent at right-back for the Gunners. Starting all but one match in the Premier League so far this season. And despite a slight drop-off in form during the opening months of the campaign (where he was clearly struggling with a slight-knock) White continues to be the conistent,solid player on the right-hand side of Arteta’s defence. And just like most of his teammates, White has been a man reborn since a winter break trip to Dubai, being influential in (at the time of writing) an eight-game winning run in the league including a MOTM performance at home to Brentford where he helped himself to two assists in a 2-1 win.
His form in the last three years, and in particular the last 18 months since the move to right-back, has earned him a brand-new long term contract until 2028 in what was the least the excellent defender deserved. Safe to say that £50 million was very well spent indeed.