White backed to be a success by former Arsenal defender

Martin Macdonald

18 Aug 2021 13:12 BST
3 min read

Ben White, Arsenal v Brentford — © ProShots

Ben White has been backed to eventually become a success at Arsenal by former Gunners defender Mikael Silvestre.

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Many eyebrows were raised when Arsenal decided to splash £50 million on the England defender, as although he is recognised as a talented defender, he has only spent one season in the Premier League with Brighton in his career so far.

In his competitive debut with the club, he started the opening match of the season against Brentford and it was a baptism of fire as he, and the rest of the Arsenal defence, were run ragged at times by the Bees frontline.

White is also arguably under increased pressure due to the face that Manchester United were able to sign World Cup and Champions League winner Raphael Varane from Real Madrid for much less.

Silvestre, who played for Arsenal between 2008 and 2010, believes White has the talent necessary to become a key player at the Emirates.

“There is a lot of pressure in England for teams to sign English players and as Arsenal already have quite a few foreign players, they leaned towards signing an English defender in Ben White,” the Frenchman explained to MyBettingSites.

"Ben struggled on Friday against Brentford but he’s well-equipped, intelligent and is clever so I’m sure he’ll learn from his mistakes from the opening game.

"It is a big step for him coming from a team like Brighton to Arsenal, but I believe that he’ll bring quality to the team at the back.

"The defenders need to become more of a unit and must make sure they’re concentrating for the full game, and that hasn’t been this case at Arsenal in recent years, which is causing them to concede goals.”

© ProShots - Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is under pressure

Silvestre on Arsenal's aim this season

Following the defeat to Brentford, Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have started the new campaign on a downbeat note.

Silvestre says they must recover quickly in order to achieve their main target which, in his opinion should be at least a top six finish.

“When a team like Arsenal see the top teams spending a lot of money and bringing in quality players, it will worry them quite a bit," he told MyBettingSites.

“They already had a tough task with having to improve from last season and closing the gap, but this has made it extremely hard for Mikel Arteta and his team to break into the top six this season.

“That must be their main aim this season – to break back into the top six.”

In addition to White, Arsenal have signed Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga this summer, while they are working hard to bring Martin Odegaard back to North London on a permanent basis.