Mikel Arteta finally reacts to criticism of summer signing aerial ability

Arsenal began their new season with a defeat to Premier League newcomers Brentford with summer signing Ben White struggling on his debut.

Ben White who joined Arsenal from Brighton and Hove in a deal worth £50million this summer struggled to cope with Brentford’s Ivan Toney in last Friday’s Premier League curtain raiser.

Ivan Toney came out of top of their aerial duels on Friday night and this has got some pundits and fans talking.

However, Arteta has defended his summer signing performance in that match noting that White can get better in the air.

Speaking to Sky Sport, Arteta stated that White can improve in the air, but he won many aerial duels against him in the game as well.

Arteta noted that pundits are highlighting the ones White didn’t win but Toney will win headers against any defender in this league because that’s a big quality of his.

The Spaniard insisted that everyone have to accept that it’s an area of the pitch where if you concede those headers, it obviously becomes more dangerous for the team.

But White had a good debut, he hadn’t trained a lot. Bukayo Saka couldn’t feature from the start and he was in the same training plan as White but he made a big effort.

Arteta added that physically, he’s still not where he needs to be, but he think White has had a positive start.