LOANEE PLANET
The rise of England defender Ben White from League Two loanee with Newport County to £50 million Arsenal signing in the space of just four years has been remarkable. It has also been by careful design.
White followed up his spell at Newport’s Rodney Parade with an incremental step up to the third tier, spending half a season on loan with Peterborough United, before then enjoying a full, promotion-clinching campaign in the Championship with Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United. He returned to his parent club, Brighton, for the 2020-21 season, ready for the rigours of Premier League football and just a year away from becoming one of the world’s most expensive defenders.
“Leeds had identified Ben as being a really good fit for them,” remembers David Weir, the former Everton and Scotland centre-half who now works as Brighton’s loan manager.
“It was always a risk, because it was a relatively big jump from where Ben was to go to Leeds. We just felt like it was a great opportunity for him to experience a coach like that, to experience a club like that.
“From the minute he went [to Leeds], Ben grasped the opportunity. They loved him. It was a really good fit and it genuinely couldn’t have gone any better. That
