'He's going to be flattered, but the grass isn't always greener' - Adam Forshaw on Leeds United loanee Ben White's future

The experienced midfielder, who played once in the top flight for Everton and 34 times for Middlesbrough, had no idea who White was when he arrived at Elland Road last summer, on loan from Brighton.

White soon made a name for himself as a centre-half with maturity and ability beyond his tender years.

The 22-year-old started as he meant to go on, with an almost flawless debut performance at Bristol City on the opening day.

"I joked with him at the start of the season, I'll be honest you turned up and I didn't even know who you was. I'd never heard of you," said Forshaw, on the Leeds That podcast."That first game at Bristol he was so assured."

White's performances have been so good that Forshaw believes he will one day count the defender as one of the best he's played alongside.

And the veteran is in no doubt that his young team-mate will grace the highest level of the domestic game.

"I think Ben would be a good fit for a top team in the Premier League, he's a top lad and he's got everything to go all the way," he said.

"One of the fitness coaches asked me the other day about the best players I've played with and he potentially could be one of them."

Such an impressive rookie year in the Championship has, inevitably, brought attention and transfer talk to White's door.

He has been watched by several of the biggest clubs in the country and while Brighton are desperate to keep him once they get him back from Elland Road, a number of suitors are lining up and considering big-money moves.

Whites fans would dearly love him to become a permanent signing, if promotion is achieved in the final nine games of the season.

But even top flight status might not be enough to prise White away from the AMEX Stadium permanently.

Yet Forshaw says the strength of feeling of Leeds fans, for their young loanee defender, is something White should take into account when considering his own future.

"He absolutely loves it here, so who knows," said Forshaw.

"There's one thing I've realised in my career, the grass isn't always greener when you think it might be and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

"He's going to be flattered by the interest he's getting from other clubs, which is understandable he's a young kid, but the grass isn't always greener.

"When you're loved in a place and he is loved, sometimes you can take that a little bit for granted."