Ben White ticks all the right boxes in Arsenal’s recruitment policy | OneFootball

I have often said ‘to be a big club you need to think like a big club’. Part of doing that is being honest enough about the situation you are in.

What I like about Arsenal’s recruitment policy this summer is that there is a clear criteria about the type of player we are after.

As things stand, we are unable to compete with the Manchester clubs and Chelsea, both in terms of our owners ambition and the fact we can’t offer European Football.

If you can’t buy a world class talent you have to be creative and think outside the box.

What Arsenal have decided to do is build a young squad where we could develop our own world class prospects.

Whether we go that extra mile and add more additions in the next two weeks remains to be seen, but Ben White ticks all the boxes.

A young defender, good on the ball, versatile, who is at an age where he will only get better.

He’s played in all pyramids of English Football so can battle when needed as well.

It reminds me of years ago when we refused to meet Bolton’s valuation for Gary Cahill based on a couple of million difference in an opinion,

He could have been our leader for the next decade.

This is not me discriminating against other nations, but I like the idea of having a British centreback.

You are less likely to want to move abroad if you were born in the UK, and would have grown up knowing the Gunners as one of the biggest clubs in the country.

We have had to pay over the odds but that applies to any England International.

Gooners who argue our form was the third best since Xmas and therefore we didn’t need to improve at the back shouldn’t let stats trick you.

The only information that matters is we finished 8th for consecutive years meaning this is our worst squad in 25 years.

If your finishing in our worst position for a quarter of a century then that means every area of the team needs improving, not one player can argue if their place is under threat.

This run we went on from January to May still entailed Liverpool, Everton and City winning at the Emirates while Palace and Fulham got draws at our ground.

In that spell we lost at Southampton, Villa and Wolves and drew at Burnley.

So nothing special.

Certainly not enough to suggest Arsenal couldn’t benefit from having one of the best emerging defenders.

He was exceptional when he got promoted with Leeds and followed that up with a solid debut in the top flight.

At Brighton greats become heroes …. but at Arsenal …. heroes become legends….

Be kind in the comments

Dan