Brighton youngster Ben White, who is on the radar of Liverpool and Tottenham, has rejected an extension offer from the Premier League outfit.
According to The Sun, Brighton have received a setback in their mission to lock youngster Ben White down to a new deal. The player, who is currently on loan at Newport, is attracting interest from Liverpool and Tottenham, and has rejected his parent club’s offer to extend his current contract.
Ben White has already made the senior grade, with a couple of League Cup – now known as the EFL Cup – games under his belt for Brighton in the 2016-17 campaign. The summer that arrived saw him being loaned out to Newport County in an attempt to aid his development and achieve regular senior team experience in a competitive league.
The player has been one of the first names on the team sheet for the League Two outfit and has been a rock at the back as Newport attempt to get to the playoff stage with a late surge, if possible, with the club 9 points behind 7th-placed Swindon Town, although with a game in hand over the latter.
White’s performances have impressed a lot of Premier League clubs, who are all monitoring the player’s development at Newport. His stocks have further accentuated with praise from Exiles boss Mike Flynn, who has even gone to the extent of tipping the player to become a full-fledged senior international for England.
Tottenham are known to give youngsters a great look-in into the senior squad in recent years and their recruitment from the lower leagues have brought them tremendous success thus far. David Brooks is on their radar as well and it seems like they have made Ben White a target for the summer as well.
Liverpool have also made it a habit of recruiting from the lower leagues, case in point being Joe Gomez and Emeka Obi, both being defenders. But, one could make a case that unlike Tottenham, Liverpool do not really have space for another central defender in their squads, be it the senior team or the reserves.
Thus, while Ben White has rejected the contract extension offer from Brighton, the parent club still represents his best chance at securing regular first-team football in the Premier League in the summer. Although, he could make the jump to Tottenham in search of better facilities, a wider fan base and several other factors.
