Ben White Hails Arsenal Teammate As The Best He’s Played With

By The Editor
on 11th January 2022

Ben White waxes lyrical on Takehiro Tomiyasu…

Arsenal defender Ben White hailed teammate Takehiro Tomiyasu as the best right-back he’s played alongside with the two striking up a formidable partnership, DAZN Japan reports.

White and Tomiyasu are mainstays in a revamped backline that was formed last summer as part of a huge rebuild undertaken by Mikel Arteta.

The two, who cost a combined £68million, have settled into a solid back five alongside Gabriel and Kieran Tierney, with the huge presence of Aaron Ramsdale behind them.

White’s importance has been underlined by his consistent presence in our starting XI, even starting in our last two League Cup ties.

In the case of Tomiyasu, his absence in recent weeks due to Covid and injury has been keenly felt in the team, as Cedric has left little to be desired as his understudy.

“Tomi is amazing,” White was quoted as saying.

“He’s the best right-back I’ve ever played with. He’s always focused. It’s an honour to play next to him.

“Tomi does the simple things at a world-class level. He is very alert and he isn’t careless in games.

“From the beginning, he’s completely understood English and speaks as well as I do.”

The aforementioned duo also have an interesting tactical dynamic between them, with White aiming to pass the ball as few times as possible to the Japanese international.

It was an interesting analysis initially pointed out by Tomiyasu after writing an exclusive column for native outlet Nishi Nippon, and White decided to expand on those points.

“I read the article about me not passing to Tomi,” White explained.

“If you aren’t familiar with football you might not understand but opponents target passes to the right-back when they press.

“If I play the ball to Tomi he will be targeted and he might be in a situation where he has no options.

“It’s not that I don’t want to pass to Tomi but it is the best way to build up our play so that it leads to the final third.”