MOT View: Fresh hope for Leeds deal for Ben White as Brighton owner comments on losses & CBs
Leeds United have installed Ben White as one of their top targets for the summer and that comes as no surprise after the Brighton player impressed so much on loan.
He’s the one player that Leeds fans desperately want to see back at Elland Road for the club’s first game in the Premier League in 16 years.
It won’t be easy. Brighton manager Graham Potter has said he wants him to stay at the Amex and clubs like Man City and Liverpool have shown an interest in the young centre-back.
If another Premier League club signs him then rules state that he can’t be loaned to another top-flight club in the same transfer window.
There are two ways White could be a Leeds player – if Brighton decide to sell him or loan him back to the Whites.
We’d love him on a permanent deal but either would work for us.
And comments from Brighton chairman Tony Bloom in The Athletic about the financial hit the club has taken from the Coronavirus outbreak – and the fact the club has a lot of centre-backs – should give Leeds fresh hope.
Bloom is quoted as saying: “I am not going to go into the actual numbers now, but the forecast loss (for 2019-20) was going to be a bit higher than the previous season and you’ve got the additional loss, the main thing being the broadcast lost revenue and also not having fans for the last five home games.
“But over the last couple of years, those losses are because of amortisation (spreading of payments) on transfer fees. We’ve brought a lot of players in, we haven’t sold many, so over time that should change. Over the medium to long term, while we are in the Premier League, we are aiming to become profitable.”
Bloom went on to say: “I’m not going to speculate on whether we may or may not get offers for many of our players. We certainly do have an abundance of centre-backs and there are constant discussions between myself and Graham and Dan (Ashworth, technical director) and the recruitment team about what our needs are, what’s going to be happening.”
It might be a bit of a stretch to translate that to “Brighton are skint and they have too many centre-backs” but it’s not a huge one.
And the financial reality that faces many clubs now means that big offers will have to be considered.
One line in the Athletic piece is very pertinent: “Brighton are bracing themselves for a record loss in the 2019-20 season as a result of coronavirus, although Bloom is setting his sights on sustained profitability for the club in the Premier League in the future.”
If White says that he wants to play for Leeds, Brighton may have no choice but to move him on for a big sum of money.
We think there’s still a decent chance that White will be a White next season. Bloom’s comments mean Leeds can dare to dream.
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