Ben White has the potential to become Leeds United’s next Rio Ferdinand

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Ben White has shone in the Championship at Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United since joining on loan from Premier League Brighton and Hove Albion.

It’s impossible not to think of Ben White when listening to Rio Ferdinand explain how a top-class centre-half should go about his business.

To say White has been a revelation since joining Leeds United on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion would be an understatement. Combining the passing range of a seasoned playmaker with the ability to sniff out danger like the most vigilant of Alsatians, there are certainly plenty of similarities between Leeds’ number five and the man they sold to Manchester United for £29 million 17 years ago.

“I like to watch intelligent defenders – guys who can play a bit of football and play themselves out of trouble. It’s mainly instinct and experience,” Ferdinand, who spent two years at Leeds before winning six Premier League titles with their rivals from across the Pennines, told FourFourTwo.

“Some players just seem to have this knack of where to position themselves and the ball seems to be drawn to them like a magnet.

“I love it when the ball gets played into a striker’s feet – hard and low across the box – and a defender has anticipated that pass and positioned himself in the right place to step out, nick it from the forward and then launch an attack for his own team.”

Anyone who watched White’s impenetrable display in Wednesday night’s 1-0 win against Brentford will know exactly what Ferdinand is talking about.

Time and again, the 21-year-old nipped in to steal a lose ball from the striker’s toes before fizzing an inch-perfect pass into midfield. White is the archetypal modern-day centre-back, espousing the kind of composure, class and brain-over-brawn approach that Ferdinand made his trademark during over a decade at the very top of the European game.

The fact that he’s honed these skills after just two seasons in the senior game make his rapid rise even more impressive.

Bristol City, Wigan and Brentford are not exactly the acid test of a world-class centre-half but White certainly has the raw skills that make a young defender stand out from the crowd at any level.