Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand believes that both Diogo Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka could make a case for being better players than Arsenal’s Ben White.

The Gunners bought the defender from Brighton for £50m two years ago but he ended up playing out of position at right-back last season. He earned some praise for his performances but Ferdinand has disputed suggestions that the 25-year-old was up there with the best players in the position:

“He’s not better than the two right-backs at Man United. No, not for me [he wasn’t second-best in the Premier League]. I thought Ben White was solid but that’s it. I think that’s the one area of their team where you look and think there is a room for a lot of improvement there, if they are going to challenge for more. White may be better defensively, but I think going forward Dalot is better than him.”

Considering Arsenal have bought Jurrien Timber for £38m this summer to replace White, it kind of tells you all you need to know that he isn’t really a natural fullback.

Ten Hag does have a decision to make on Dalot and Wan-Bissaka

The two United players were both given their fair share of game time by manager Erik ten Hag last campaign. While Dalot started the season as first-choice, ten Hag began to favour Wan-Bissaka more and more across the course of his first year in charge.

There have been times when it has looked like that Wan-Bissaka, in particular, could leave but he appears to have won his manager around.

It will be interesting to see who starts the majority of matches when the new campaign kicks off but, like last season, it is more than likely that ten Hag will take a ‘horses for courses’ approach based on the opposition.