Man City present perfect escape route for ‘not happy’ Arsenal star discarded by Arteta | OneFootball

Manchester City reportedly see an Arsenal star as a “very good fit” and he is believed to be unhappy at being consistently benched by Mikel Arteta of late.

The Gunners are flying high in each competition this season. In the Premier League, they are four points clear of second-placed City, and in the Champions League they have won four of four games – one of only three sides to do so.

Arteta guided his side to second in the league in each of the last three seasons and a semi-final spot in the Champions League last term, and they seem to be on course to take the final step in at least one of those competitions this term.

But the current form has seen some sacrifices made. With Jurrien Timber starring – two goals and two assists from right-back this term – Ben White has been discarded by Arteta.

The Englishman played every league game for Arsenal in 2022/23 and missed just one the following season – he had six goals and nine assists across those two campaigns – and he’s returned from an injury setback last season and would have expected game time this term.

But White has played just 71 minutes in the league and 82 minutes in the Champions League this term.

According to Arsenal Insider, he is getting frustrated by his lack of action, and that will threaten Arsenal given interest from City, Juventus and Atletico Madrid – with the former looking the most likely move.

Transfer insider Graeme Bailey said: “Ben White, from what I’m told, he is he’s on board [at Arsenal].

“However, there is a source of frustration there, he isn’t going to spend the rest of his career sat on the bench. Let’s not beat around the bush. He’s not one who really wants to go abroad, or not to Saudi at least.

“There is a lot of interest in him on the continent from Atletico Madrid and Juventus. The other one that I’ve heard who are keeping tabs on his situation, because they think he could be a very good fit to them as a right-back is Man City. He’d probably suit their system so it makes sense.

“Arsenal are not going to mess around with this squad. As we saw previously, with the likes of [Jakub] Kiwior, Arsenal are always going to err on the side of caution.

“I’m not saying he is banging on Arteta’s door right now, but he’s aware of the situation. He’s not banging to get released but there are clubs assessing it. We know at Atletico, [Nahuel] Molina might be leaving, and they have got [Marcos] Llorente, so they do need that right-back as well. I think it’s one for the summer.”