It does, but if we get 5-6 years from him it's probably worth it. I know very little of him but from what I have read since our interest emerged, he is very highly thought of.

There’s not many centre backs worth more than 50 million in world football right now surely. That kind of money brings lots of options.

Like yourself I know nothing about the player at all but heard good things however I consider the current England centre backs pretty average and they are getting in the side ahead of him.

I also do find it a little bizarre we are signing another centre back when we have so many and are desperate for midfield reinforcement

I saw maybe 6-7 Brighton games last season, and I really liked what I saw of White. A very modern defender, good on the ball and agile. Arteta is clearly eyeing him as a Luiz replacement in my opinion, someone who will help our build-up and maybe allow our midfielders not to drop too deep when we're in possession.

As for the fee, he's clearly not worth it at this point in his career. It's just the way it is with English players. Maguire isn't worth half of 80m, Wan-Bissaka isn't worth 50m and neither is Chilwell. To me this looks like a sign that we have significant money to spend this summer, which is a welcome surprise.

I think we have depth at the centre back position, but are lacking quality. Gabriel is really the only one we have with the quality to start for a club chasing top 4, and he only showed it in patches last season. Holding and Mari are good players but definitely shouldn't be more than 3rd/4th choice for where we're aiming.

https://www.arsenal.com/news/dinos-mavr ... tgart-loan

Mavropanos joins Stuttgart on loan with option/obligation to buy depending on if they stay up.

Edit: https://theathletic.com/news/arsenal-tr ... dod0UHpfNE This is the article with the details about the deal. Like the part about a sell-on clause, Mavropanos is a talented player and if he performs he might attract interest elsewhere.

Quite a few reports saying we've moved very close to securing Ben White for £45-50m.

I can;t believe we'd spend that much on a single player without also investing heavily in the other areas of the team that need players - most notably central midfield and attacking midfield.

So either Arsenal are going to spend £50m on a CB and spend pennies and leave gaps elsewhere, or we're also going to spend big on other areas of the team. Because doing the first option is absolute madness and the fans won't be happy.

If you have a £60m budget and need 6 players do you
a) sign 1 player for £50m and then 5 players for £2m each
b) sign 6 players for £10m (or similar spreading round of funds)

I can't believe any club would go for option a) - which makes me optimistically think we might see some serious spending this summer.

Obviously with a sell on clause you take a bit of a hit on the initial fee, but what I've seen (can't open the athletic article) is £500k loan fee and obligation to buy for £3m if they stay in the top flight, and £1.5m if they get relegated. £3.5m seems like absolute pennies and virtually giving the player away irrespective of sell on clause.

Whichever way you look at it that's a *%^@ deal, Haz.

He was one of the brightest young defenders in the German league last season and he's only 23. I just can't believe he's only worth £5m.

I get the bit that you can can't get more if there are no higher offers but couldn't we have loaned him to a PL side for a season. If he did well h'd be worth three times that.

That is an embarassing fee, Rich. It's the kind of fee you'd expect to pay for a League One defender.

I don't pretend to be any kind of expert on Ben White. In his compilation videos he looks very classy and assured on the ball. However, £50m is a hefty sum so I just hope we've got this one right.

Does sound a ridiculous deal.

Why even involve relegation clauses? You either want him or not and the fee is peanuts anyway.

I can only assume that Arsenal need to aggressively clear the decks and risking a sale won’t cut it.

Clear the decks I say. Next up Xhaka and Guendouzi please

If England get past Germany the run to the final is as good as anyone could possibly hope for.

It's reported as a £3m fee with bonuses of £1,5m. Obligation to buy if they stay up, option to buy if they get relegated. Would've wanted more obviously, but not sure how realistic that is for a 23-year old with a really bad injury history and basically half a season of top flight football in his career. Teams didn't seem to line up to buy him, and we're not in a position to give him game time the coming season I think.

Stuttgart to Arsenal.....the best we can offer for Mavropanos is £15m. Arsenal to Stuttgart.....you can have him for £5m, not a penny less.

Arsenal to Brighton.....how much do you want for Ben White?
Brighton to Arsenal.....£25m, not a penny less.
Arsenal to Brighton.....we’ll give you £50m, take it or leave it.

Ultimately it’s not the club. These players haven’t done enough to stand out. It’s as simple as that

If we put saka up for sale we would get a queue of clubs after him as long as your arm with massive fees involved. Smith Rowe a bid of 30 million ? Why ? Because he’s impressed.

However you try to dress it up the Mavropanos fee is a joke unless there is a 50% sell-on clause.

Might as well chuck in Saliba as well. Buy one get one free.

According to the club website its a loan deal......... no mention of any obligation to buy

Hi Hodd,

Have you heard anything on Saliba?

£50million sounds like a lot of money for a cash strapped club, I can only assume this is the first of many Arsenal transfers this summer presumably financed by more loans.

50M....so is that half the transfer budget gone...supposing.
Unless it's closer to 300M. KSE allowing 3 00M...

If anyone is interested in how Ben White compares to Saliba, Gabriel and Tapsoba then this youtube video looks at stats for various things such as clearances, passes, duels etc, and an articulate Brighton fan gives his opinion on White. Based on this video (I did skip through a lot of it) it seems that he's a very good player but not neccesarily better than Saliba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpPWlOQHtkw

https://www.espn.com.sg/soccer/uefa-cha ... mpetitions

I applaud this. Always thought of it as a stupid rule.