Everton are eyeing a January transfer for Arsenal’s Ben White, but the Gunners are likely to resist a winter move for the 28-year-old.
Pete O’Rourke reports for Football Insider that Everton are looking to solve their issues at right-back by signing Arsenal’s Ben White, and the Merseyside club are open to a deal this month.
Yet such a transfer appears unlikely, with Arsenal set to resist selling a senior player mid-season despite White’s limited minutes.
Football Insider themselves had reported in December that Arsenal weren’t planning to let White leave in the January transfer window.
Arsenal don’t really have the squad options to let White leave at the moment. Jurrien Timber is clearly the club’s starting right-back, but White is the only fit alternative to the Dutch international.
Cristhian Mosquera is another player who would ideally provide an alternative to Timber, with the centre-back capable of filling in on the right.
But Mosquera has now been out of action for well over a month, and even when he returns there will be doubts about his ability to immediately perform to a high standard in his second-choice position.
So letting White leave now would mean gambling that both Timber and Mosquera stay fit and William Saliba too. If Saliba is out, Mosquera will be needed at right-centre-back.
Perhaps Arsenal would be more receptive to a summer transfer for White, as he seems increasingly out of favour under Mikel Arteta.
Previously, it seemed like White’s injury problems were the only thing stopping him from competing with Timber for starts. But the English defender has been fit for most of this season and he’s only played 673 minutes, the equivalent of less than eight full matches.
If Arteta has made up his mind that he can only trust Timber to start the big games, White becomes less useful as an alternative, and the club may well want to think about selling and reinvesting.
But if it’s not going to happen this month, there’s still a lot of season left for the former Brighton man to turn things around before the summer.
White has a contract until 2028, but it has an option to extend until 2029.