Arsenal star Ben White opens up on being brutally dismissed from first-team dressing room

Arsenal defender Ben White can now call himself one of the Premier League’s best right-backs, having been part of Mikel Arteta’s squad for the past four seasons

Arsenal star Ben White has revealed how he was brutally ‘kicked out’ of a former club’s first-team dressing room and made to train with the under-23s.

White, 27, has gone on to establish himself as one of the Premier League’s best right-backs since his £50million move to Arsenal in 2021. But the ex-Brighton defender firstly had to prove himself in the lower divisions of English football, firstly with Newport County in League Two and then up to the Championship with Leeds United.

It was at Elland Road where White truly made his name, starring under Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds achieved promotion to the Premier League in 2021. He played all 46 league games as Bielsa’s side were crowned champions.

But at one point it seemed like White wouldn’t get a look in, having been sent down to the U23s in pre-season. During an interview with Amazon Prime Video Sport, the 27-year-old explained: “When I first went to Leeds, I got in there, two days in I was in the first-team changing room.

“The first team wasn’t in yet, for some reason, they were not there. They had a day off or something. I go in there, and someone comes in and tells me, ‘No, you’re in the 23s changing room’. Kicks me out of the first-team changing room, and puts me in the 23s. I stayed there for five, six weeks. So I’m ringing my agent saying, ‘What’s going on?'”

Renowned for being a disciplinarian, Bielsa was typically ruthless with White, who revealed: “In my first training session, he didn’t speak any English so someone would interpret it. He said to me that I was too slow, I wasn’t agile enough and I wasn’t mentally quick enough, and just walked off. Didn’t speak to me again for probably months.

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“I can probably count how many times he spoke to me. But when he would say something to you, you’d just do it. I think it was just for him to say to me, ‘You’re not at the highest level, you’ve got so much to improve on.'”

Now White is playing for Arsenal at the highest level week in, week out. The right-back hopes to face Bournemouth on Saturday as the Gunners continue their title charge before a clash with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League next Tuesday.

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