Ben White will stay at Leeds until the rest of the season, both Leeds United and Phil Hay have confirmed.The journalist took to Twitter on Friday evening to reveal the defender would be staying beyond June to see out the season with the Whites.
Initially, it had been feared that he could leave the club with player contracts in limbo following football's return after Coronavirus. However, Brighton have been kind enough to allow him to stay for the rest of the campaign.
That could be until August when the play-off final is set to take place. That's if Marcelo Bielsa's men need to go via that route in order to achieve promotion.
At present they sit top of the table, largely thanks to White's contributions in defence.
GIVEMESPORT'S Matt Dawson says...
This is absolutely crucial news for Leeds who can now safely play out the rest of the season with a competent backline.
At one stage it looked as though Bielsa could be forced into seeing Gaetano Berardi and White both leave the club at the end of the month, but thankfully, they’ve both now agreed to stay.
White has been a vitally important figure in defence for Leeds this term, winning the PFA Fans’ Player of the Month right at the beginning of the season and also earning comparisons to John Stones.
The Brighton loanee has excelled at Championship level, playing in a division he’d never featured in until the current campaign.
His ball-playing abilities, coupled with his cool head are two stand out qualities that make him ideal for this Leeds side.
So far in 2019/20, White has registered a pass success rate north of 85% while winning as many as 2.8 aerial duels per game. He is the complete defender.