Arsenal star Ben White's shock Chelsea move 'makes sense', with summer transfer addressed

Arsenal defender Ben White could be about to leave the club, with minutes hard to come by of late.

White started on the opening weekend of the season for the Gunners but is yet to start again in the Premier League, with Jurrien Timber having taken the first-choice spot at right-back and established himself as one of the best in the league.

With Arsenal taking on Chelsea this weekend as Premier League action resumes, the question of White potentially swapping North London for West has been raised in a potential cross-capital transfer.

Could Ben White join Chelsea from Arsenal?

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Ben White has been an excellent signing for Arsenal, originally forming a solid pairing with Gabriel at centre-back before William Saliba was integrated into the defence and White moved to right-back – where he has thrived in multiple title challenges.

But the former Brighton & Hove Albion man has struggled with injury over the past two years since playing through pain in 2023/24 and the emergence of Timber – ranked at no.6 in FourFourTwo's list of the best right-backs in the world right now – combined with injury setbacks has limited him to just 18 league appearances since the start of last season.

Now, former Blue Shaun Wright-Phillips has said that he could see White moving to Chelsea ahead of the two London rivals meeting this weekend in a top-of-the-table clash.

“I think I could see a move for Ben White to Chelsea take place in the summer,” Wright-Phillips told BestBettingSites, adding, “It makes sense, it’s possible. I feel quite sorry for Ben because he had an injury, and he was playing so well for Arsenal. He was unbelievable.

“I don’t think Arsenal would be willing to sell him in the winter window though, because that squad depth is one of Arsenal’s biggest advantages. If Timber is injured, White is the man to come in.

“So selling him would force Arsenal back in the market and I don’t think that’s something they would want to do while they are challenging for the title, and maybe the Champions League.”

FourFourTwo understands that Chelsea are not currently interested in White – but given the right-back's versatility and ability to both invert and overlap, he would be an excellent addition for Enzo Maresca.

With White now 28, it's perhaps unlikely that Chelsea look to pursue him, given that they have a policy for signing younger players – but there would likely be a queue of clubs who would consider the four-cap England international should he look to move on from London Colney, even in spite of his recent injury struggles.

Arsenal have been sporadically linked with right-sided defenders over the last couple of years, with players like Arnau Martinez and Sacha Boey attracting minimal interest and fitting the bill of the kind of profile that manager Mikel Arteta wants in a ‘complete’ full-back able to contribute in all phases of play and across multiple zones of the pitch.

White is valued at €38 million by Transfermarkt.