Centre-back Ben White has been a star for Leeds United since signing for the club on-loan Premier League outfit Brighton and Hove Albion.

White joined Leeds in the summer along with winger jack Harrison, with many somewhat underwhelmed that he was the replacement to the departed stalwart Pontus Jansson, however, that feeling has since been emphatically quashed with a succession of brilliant performances at the heart of Marcelo Bielsa’s defensive unit.

White has demonstrated footballing intelligence far beyond his years to make a lot of people wonder where he’s been hiding the past few seasons as such clear top talent.

White’s current side sit in third place in the Championship behind second-placed Preston on goal difference alone and aim to finish this season with one thing in mind: automatic promotion, especially after the disappointment of last season’s finish. With that in mind, Leeds do appear on course to be in with a strong shout of finishing in the top two this time around, and White will be a massive part to Leeds achieving this.

It is no surprise to see that a good young player’s performances are turning heads higher up in the footballing ladder and one side who are reportedly keen are bitter rivals Manchester United, according to Football Insider. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer’s side have struggled to settle on a definite back-four this season and Ben White could be the long-term solution to this, only being 22-years-old. 

With this in mind, we take a closer look at Ben White’s season so far to see both how well he has performed and whether he has the quality to make the step-up to top six-chasing Manchester United…

Ben White has been an ever-present for Marcelo Bielsa this season, playing in every single league game and both League Cup fixtures. In that time, he has clocked up a total of 1782 minutes on the pitch for the Whites.

In his time on the pitch, among the other Leeds defenders, White has been formidable at the back, keeping eight clean sheets in 16 league games which is the league’s best record at this point in time. Leeds have conceded just nine goals so far this season, with only Leicester City boasting a meaner defence in England’s top four tiers.

In terms of his defensive capabilities, White has been successful in 78% of his defensive duels, which is a brilliant figure for a defender plying his trade as high as the Championship for the first season of his career. 

As well as this, White has averaged 3.33 interceptions per game. This aspect of his defensive play has been the most impressive as Leeds become very susceptible to counter-attacks due to their domination, meaning White’s vision to read opposition play and movement needs to be spot on to stop breaks, which he is proving regularly. This is something very notable for White if he were to make the jump up to the standard at Old Trafford, as he would face similar issues weekly with Man United dominating most games too.

White has been most impressive when showing his confidence on the ball this season, however, as many wondered whether he had the quality needed to fit into Marcelo Bielsa’s free-flowing attacking style of play, but he has passed that test with flying colours. 

So far for Leeds, White has averaged 90.1% passing accuracy and while it is noted that he plays many simple passes from the back, he is also tasked to play more adventurously under Bielsa to try to unlock the more staunch defences they face, which stacks up very nicely against Harry Maguire’s 86.4% accuracy and Victor Lindelof’s 86.6% accuracy for the Red Devils (these two figures coming from WhoScored.com). 

Along with this, White has completed 16 progressive runs out from the defensive line this season, demonstrating he can move out of the unit to create space for other midfielders, something that would be very useful for a side looking to be at the top end of the Premier League table.