Sky Sports pundit says reported Liverpool target is like a young Rio Ferdinand

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Reported Liverpool target Ben White has been compared to Rio Ferdinand and John Stones by Sky Sports pundit Keith Andrews.

Sky Sports claimed in April that Liverpool scout Andy O’Brien had attended almost every Leeds United game this season to keep tabs on the Brighton loanee.

The 22-year-old joined the Whites on loan last summer, and at the time it appeared somewhat of a gamble as he hadn’t made a single appearance in English football’s top two divisions.

However, White took to life in the Championship flawlessly, playing every minute of every league game for Leeds this term, as well as featuring in the FA Cup against Arsenal and in the Whites’ two League Cup clashes.

“I think when you look at the profile of him as a centre-half, the thing that sticks out is what he does on the ball and the comparisons maybe in recent seasons are John Stones, Rio Ferdinand when he was a young player,” Andrews told Sky Sports. “That elegant way they have of stepping out from the back and picking the right passes more often than not.”

Fellow pundit Andy Hinchcliffe added: “I totally agree with Stones and Ferdinand but also, you put a bit of John Terry or Gary Cahill in there, which I think he’s got, imagine the centre-half.

“I would say, if you’ve got a centre-forward on the edge of the box, looking to drill a ball goalwards, is he going to throw himself in the way? And he will throw himself in the way. He doesn’t just see himself as a ball-playing centre-half.”

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White has been truly sensational for Leeds, helping Marcelo Bielsa’s side top the Championship table by the time English football was suspended in wake of the global health crisis.

It was a gamble that paid off for the Whites, while it could backfire for Brighton, their player having been put in the shop window and now being linked with the likes of Liverpool, who shouldn’t pass up on such a talented up-and-coming defender.

Furthermore, University of Liverpool teacher and football finance expert Kieran Maguire told The Express that he thinks the “very high price” Brighton would have wanted could now see up to £5million knocked off – so the Reds may even be able to get themselves a bargain.