Graham Potter would love Ben White to still be in a Brighton shirt but accepts money talks.
White was the Seagulls’ player of the season last term before switching to Arsenal for a reported £50million.
The England international is poised for a reunion with his former club when Albion visit Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
While head coach Potter insists Brighton do not wish to be viewed as a selling club, he accepts receiving big-money fees is vital for future development.
“In an ideal world if you’re playing with no finances (we would have kept him) – but they’re quite important finances,” Potter said of White.
“Certainly if the chairman (Tony Bloom) was sat next to me he’d be saying they’re quite important.
“We’ve been through Covid, all sorts of challenges as a football club, and when you get that type of offer it’s difficult to turn down – not only for the football club but the individual himself.
“Somebody said to me you have to understand where you are in the football pyramid.
“That’s not to say we’ll sell all of our players but when the right offer comes in, that’s how we grow as a club, how we develop as a team, so it’s actually exciting, I think.
“But, take the finances away, I’d be quite happy to have Ben with us.”
White’s development into a Premier League star included successive loan spells with Newport, Peterborough and Leeds in League Two, League One and the Championship respectively.
After a single season of top-flight action, he made his international debut last June while still contracted to Albion before being included in Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 squad as an injury replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold and then moving to the Gunners.
Potter believes the transfer benefited all parties and remains a big admirer of the player.
“As I said when we made the transfer, he’s got everything in terms of being a modern-day centre-back,” he said.
“Obviously you have to have a playing style that fits him, which I think Arsenal do, so credit to them for identifying that and then having the courage to pay the fee. It was one of those win-win-win situations.
“He’s very athletic, very fast, very durable in terms of he plays all of the games, reliable in terms of performance level.
“If you’re a team that has the majority of the ball or want to be proactive in games, it’s important to have defenders that can deal with space in behind because a lot of teams attack big spaces.
“So having someone like Ben can help them.”
