Arsenal star Ben White revealed he was 'kicked out' of Leeds first team under Marcelo Bielsa
Published 19/10/2024 at 12:31 GMT+1
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Ben White was once kicked of the Leeds first-team dressing room by Marcelo Bielsa and made to train with the club's under-23s. The defender stayed with the development side for some five or six weeks. Now White is considered to be one of the best right-backs in the Premier League, having been a mainstay in the Arsenal first-team since a 2021 transfer.
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Marcelo Bielsa once kicked Ben White out of the Leeds dressing room and made him train with the club’s under-23s.
White has established himself as one of the Premier League's finest right-backs since securing a move to Arsenal in 2021.
But before making the Premier League move, the defender had to prove himself at Newport County in League Two and then Championship side Leeds United.
Indeed, at Elland Road White starred, playing all 46 league encounters as Bielsa’s side achieved promotion to the Premier League in 2021.
However, White’s relationship with the enigmatic Bielsa was not always straight-forward. In an interview with Amazon Prime Video Sport, the 27-year-old detailed an occasion when he was demoted to train with Leeds’ under-23s in pre-season.
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Ben White.
Image credit: Getty Images
White said: "When I first went to Leeds, I got in there, two days in I was in the first-team changing room.
"The first team wasn't in yet, for some reason, they were not there. They had a day off or something.
“I go in there, and someone comes in and tells me, 'No, you're in the 23s changing room'. Kicks me out of the first-team changing room, and puts me in the 23s. I stayed there for five, six weeks. So I'm ringing my agent saying, 'What's going on?'
"In my first training session, he didn't speak any English so someone would interpret it. He said to me that I was too slow, I wasn't agile enough and I wasn't mentally quick enough, and just walked off. Didn't speak to me again for probably months.
"I can probably count how many times he spoke to me. But when he would say something to you, you'd just do it. I think it was just for him to say to me, 'You're not at the highest level, you've got so much to improve on.'"
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