They can huff and they can puff, but at the end of the day, it might not be enough.
According to a report from Football Insider, Leeds United players are ‘begging’ on loan defender Ben White to sign a permanent deal at the club, in the hopes that he can take his talents to the next level whilst still a member of the team.
It should be no surprise that they want him to stay after the phenomenal season that he has had at Elland Road, performing to such an extent that Premier League big hitters Liverpool are interested in signing him, and had even been tipped for a place in the England squad.
However, it’s not quite as simple as that. As Phil Hay put it during a mailbag session on The Athletic a few months ago:
“There’s no formal option on him, so Leeds have no right to retain him. Given the way his value has increased, you can disregard any thought of Leeds signing White permanently in the Championship but in the Premier League, they could easily get involved in an arm wrestle. They’d have the money to compete with other interested clubs.”
Will Ben White still be with us next season?
Yes
No
I think this is something that Leeds fans, and to a certain extent, players as well need to get used to, is that most of the situation surrounding White is completely out of our hands. A lot of it is going to be dictated by other factors, and even if White does want to stay with us, it’s going to take a lot of other things to go our way before we get reunited next season, if at all.
And whilst it would be great for him to come back, building on the partnership with captain Liam Cooper that has blossomed into the best defence in the division in terms of goals conceded and hopefully use that as a foundation to stay in the Premier League if we were promoted, it’s not going to be a guarantee.
So maybe it’s worth us looking for other options just in case things don’t work out the way we’d want them to.