Cooper admits Ben White ‘struggled to get to grips’ with life at Leeds
Ben White has been an absolutely brilliant signing for Leeds United and the 22-year-old centre-back has hardly put a foot wrong since he joined from Brighton in the summer.
He’s got an average WhoScored rating of 7.22 for the season and burst straight out of the gates with a 7.51 in his first game for the club against Bristol City.
However, his centre-back partner Liam Cooper admitted that White struggled when he first arrived at Leeds.
Talking at the recent player Q&A at Elland Road (as quoted by Leeds Live), Cooper said, “Ben didn’t come to [the pre-season tour in] Australia so we didn’t get to play much together.
“Ben’s only come in this season and he’ll tell you himself the first two weeks he struggled to get to grips with it and I was saying to him ‘just stick with it, just stick with it’.
“It was the first game against Bristol we said if we get it right we’ll just be knocking balls down to Kalvin [Phillips] in midfield because the press is so good from the top and he said to me after the game I was right.”
White arrived at Elland Road after a half-season stint at League One Peterborough and had never played as high as the Championship before.
If he struggled behind the scenes, it didn’t show on the pitch where he’s been calm, composed and a driving force behind Leeds’ tight defence this season.
Leeds are currently the only club in the EFL with single figures conceded and nine goals against after 16 games is some record. White is the only centre-back to play every game.
It’s put White on the radar of clubs such as Liverpool, according to Football Insider, and it could make it hard to sign him on a permanent deal in the summer – almost certainly if Leeds don’t go up.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Outstanding’ – Paul Robinson hails impact of Leeds 22y/o who is full of confidence