Leeds United are reportedly interested in signing Ben White on loan this summer.
The Yorkshire Evening Post’s report from last week suggesting that Leeds want Ben White on loan surprised a number of supporters, with many hoping to see Marcelo Bielsa make the kind of signings at the back that push the likes of Pontus Jansson, Liam Cooper and Gaetano Berardi next season.
A potential loan deal for White appears to be a gamble. While he is highly-rated, he is yet to play a league game at a higher level than League One and Leeds need the 21-year-old to hit the ground running almost immediately as he will presumably be back with his parent club in a year.
And with Brighton surely unlikely to sanction a loan move unless there are some assurances regarding how much White will play, it is probably not too great a leap to suggest that his arrival could spell the end at Elland Road for Conor Shaughnessy.
Shaughnessy already heads into this summer with a major question mark hanging over his future. The 22-year-old made one appearance under Bielsa before leaving on loan in January to join Hearts.
Unfortunately for the former Reading man, he struggled to make much of an impact at Tynecastle and it would not be a surprise if he found himself no better off in the pecking order when he returns to Thorp Arch this summer.
With players such as Aapo Halme and Pascal Struijk also breaking through, it is becoming increasingly difficult to see Shaughnessy getting another opportunity in Leeds’ first-team unless they suffer an injury crisis that is somehow worse than the one they dealt with this past year.
And if White ends up joining from Brighton, those remaining hopes that Shaughnessy may have of forcing his way into the fold will surely be dashed once and for all.
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