Rumour Mongering: Liverpool, Chelsea, and Spurs want Brighton Defender

If one is inclined to believe the rumour mongers, there’s a battle brewing for 22-year-old Brighton centre half Ben White, who’s in the midst of a successful season on loan with Leeds United and reportedly attracting heavy interest.

Liverpool have been linked off and on in recent months for him, as have a smattering of other clubs, and today Sky have the Reds in a race with Chelsea and Tottenham for the young defender—but we aren’t entirely sure we believe it.

White has had a very good season at Leeds, but he’s a player who needs to play to continue to improve, and at Anfield he would be behind Joe Gomez and Jöel Matip at least in the pecking order assuming Dejan Lovren departs in the summer.

Given his age and the stage in his development, then—too old to marinate as a prospect and not yet at a point when he could realistically hope to compete for significant playing time—he seems rather an odd kind of a fit for Liverpool.

Chelsea and Tottenham could, just maybe, represent more sensible destinations for the player. Or it could—and perhaps more likely is—a case of either the player fishing for assurances from Brighton that he will start there next season.

Alternately, it could always be that Brighton are testing the waters, seeing if a good year with Leeds could be turned into a healthy profit. A potentially costly move to Liverpool, of all the options, seems honestly least likeliest to occur.

Regardless, we’re likely to hear a bit more about it in the coming weeks and months, with the rumour mongers saying it’s not likely to be a January deal regardless where White ends up as he will remain at Leeds until at least the summer.