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Potter shrugs off Liverpool’s links to £50m White as Brighton ignore unwelcome gossip
The Seagulls coach has grown accustomed to transfer talk and is reading little into the latest round of rumours regarding a highly-rated defender
Liverpool are being linked with a January move for Brighton defender Ben White, but Graham Potter is ignoring talk of a £50 million ($65m) raid being launched by those at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp is said to be weighing up his options after seeing Virgil van Dijk ruled out with knee ligament damage.
Various targets are reported to be in the Reds’ sights, with Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly seeing transfer gossip resurface around him.
It could, however, be that Liverpool look closer to home if they are tempted into the next market, and White, who starred for Leeds on loan in 2019-20, would be a versatile and home-grown option for those on Merseyside.
He would not come cheap, with his stock having soared on the back of a promotion-winning campaign at Elland Road, but Liverpool have shown that they are prepared to spend big when required.
Potter is aware of the speculation suggesting that the Seagulls should brace themselves for bids, but he is reading little into what is merely gossip at this stage.
The Brighton boss told reporters when quizzed on the White rumours: “I think it is a bit like it was at the start of the season – all sorts of talk about he’s doing this, he’s doing that, and it is generated by outside, by outside of our control really.
“It is part of the football noise. The transfer window closed last week and we are already having conversations around transfer speculation, it is just the way it is.
“I know he is level-headed enough to not let it affect him.
“I think at this level you have to know it is part of the territory, it is part of the job of being a footballer, part of what you have to deal with.
“Consistently all he has done is just get on with his football, all he has done has come into training, be professional, tried his best and tried to play football. I have no concerns about Ben.”
Pressed specifically on the £50m price tag that has been mooted, Potter added: “I haven’t heard anything.”
Brighton are under no pressure to part with White as they tied him to a new four-year contract in September and consider him to have a leading role to play in their present and future.
