Ben White reveals Marcelo Bielsa's shocking treatment towards him at Leeds as Arsenal star says he was kicked out of first-team changing room & told he 'wasn't mentally quick enough'

The defender was signed by The Whites on loan in the 2019-20 season to bolster their promotion push from the Championship to the English top-flight. White went on to flourish under Bielsa at Elland Road as he played a key role in securing a Premier League spot and was named the club's Young Player of the Season for his impressive performances throughout the campaign.

However, White has revealed that he struggled to settle in his new surroundings and was finding it difficult to warm up to Bielsa's methods. He recalled that the manager did not speak English and relied on an interpreter. Upon arriving at the club, White was even made to spend weeks in the Under-23s changing room.

In an interview with Ben Foster forAmazon Prime,White said: "When I first went to Leeds, I got in there, two days in I was in the first-team changing room. The first team wasn’t in yet, for some reason, they were not there. They had a day off or something. I go in there, and someone comes in and tells me ‘No, you’re in the 23s changing room. Kicks me out of the first-team changing room, and puts me in the 23s. I stayed there for five, six weeks. So I’m ringing my agent saying ‘what’s going on?’"

White was given no explanation for his demotion. He then added: “In my first training session, he didn’t speak any English so someone would interpret it. He said to me that I was too slow, I wasn’t agile enough and I wasn’t mentally quick enough, and just walked off. Didn’t speak to me again for probably months. I can probably count how many times he spoke to me. But when he would say something to you, you’d just do it. I think it was just for him to say to me, ‘you’re not at the highest level, you’ve got so much to improve on.’”

Bielsa’s tough training regime, which included double sessions and intense physical drills, pushed White to his limits, but it ultimately helped shape him into the player he is today.

“I have never done as much work in training than at Leeds, it was four hours every day, double sessions, sleep at the training ground," he said. "The runs we had to do were horrendous. But I had that in my mind that I would wait it out and I would be okay. I ended up playing every minute that season."

Following his successful loan spell at Leeds, White returned to Brighton before making a high-profile transfer to Arsenal in July 2021 for £50 million. Since his move to North London, White has become a key part of Mikel Arteta’s defence and will be back in action against Bournemouth on Saturday.