Arsenal have £40m bid for Brighton defender White rejected as Mavropanos exit nears

Charles Watts

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Arsenal have £40m bid for Brighton defender White rejected as Mavropanos exit nears image

Arsenal have had an opening bid of £40 million rejected for Brighton defender Ben White.

The England centre-back has emerged as a priority target for the Gunners this summer as Mikel Arteta looks to reshape his squad following successive eighth-placed finishes in the Premier League.

Goal can confirm the Gunners have now submitted their first official offer for White, which has been rejected by the Seagulls.

How much was the bid?

It is understood that Arsenal’s first offer for White was in the region of £40m. The offer was refused by Brighton, who are believed to value the 23-year-old defender at around the £50m mark.

Goal has been told, however, that Arsenal will continue dialogue with Brighton over White and a second offer is expected to follow soon.

Mavropanos to make way

Should Arsenal be successful in their pursuit of White, they will need to move at least one defender out of their squad.

One centre-back who is close to an exit is Konstantinos Mavropanos, who is edging towards a permanent move to Stuttgart.

Talks are progressing between the clubs over a deal, believed to be in the region of £7m, with Arsenal hopeful of wrapping up a deal in the coming days.

Mavropanos spent last season on loan with Stuttgart and the Bundesliga outfit’s sporting director Sven Mislinat, who signed Mavropnaos while he was head of recruitment at Arsenal, is keen on bringing the Greeece international back on a permanent basis.

Further reading 

Club-by-club Premier League 2021-22 fixtures

Charles Watts

Charles Watts Photo

Charles Watts is Goal's Arsenal correspondent, covering the Gunners home, away and abroad. He joined Goal in April 2019 having spent the previous three years covering Arsenal for football.london. He has become a trusted and respected journalist on the Arsenal scene - regularly appearing on media outlets such as talkSPORT, Love Sport and SiriusXM and has also been a guest on Arsenal's official TV channel.