Jaiden White became Sutton’s seventh signing of the summer after arriving from National League North side Hereford, and is set to make the jump up to Step 1 for the first time in his career.
Following am impressive 2024/25 campaign which started in the Southern League with Redditch United, White will now embark on a key period in his career, with the chance to prove himself higher than ever before.
After arriving at the VBS Community Stadium to greet Head Coach Steve Morison, Director of Football Terry Bullivant and Club Director Tim Allison, Jaiden sat down to speak with SUFCtv ahead of the upcoming season in South London.
“It’s a great achievement to be here at such a big club and I’m just raring and ready to go” he said. “I was attracted to Sutton by the ambition of the club – a former Football League club – and that’s what I’m hoping to get them back into.”
“I just want to showcase my ability and talent and get the club back to where they belong.”
A passion for football was evident while growing up in the suburbs of Wolverhampton, with the 23-year old originally inspired by Brazilian legend Ronaldinho, and credited the former Paris Saint-Germain, FC Barcelona and AC Milan midfielder as a key influence for his style of play.
“I pride myself on scoring goals from the wing; creating chances and scoring goals are what I’m here to do.”
“I’m a skilful player, I can shoot from outside the box and show some magic. Growing up as a kid my favourite players were Ronaldinho when I was younger and as I’ve got older also Neymar; I think you can probably tell tricky players, skilful players”
Having grown up in Wolverhampton, Jaiden began his career in the Wolves academy and was present in the youth system as the club won promotion under current Nottingham Forest boss, Nuno Espírito Santo, before moving on for a year at Coventry City. However, he dropped into non-league soon after, and found himself over in Worcestershire before long.
“As a youth I was playing at Wolves until the age of about 14, and then spent a year in the Coventry City academy as well, to then not get offered a scholarship I went through the non-league ranks at Kidderminster Harriers.”
“I just learnt the fundamentals there, just being at Cat 1, Cat 2 clubs showed the ability I had and got better as I got older.”
He soon did manage to break out at Kiddy, becoming one of the club’s youngest ever players when he made his debut at the age of 16 years and 282 days. On making his debut, Jaiden said:
“Here and there there were some nerves but that’s just part of the game as a young lad, I think I made my debut at the age of 16 away. Obviously with grown men but they made me feel welcome so I did well.”
This period also saw him selected by England C, and saw him given a unique opportunity to visit Italy while still a teenager, having put himself in contention to be part of an 18-strong team competing in the international Roma Caput Mundi tournament in Rome.
“From obviously being at Kidderminster in the college system there was chances to play for England C and we travelled to Italy to play some teams which was very fun and I have good memories of.”
While a good few years were spent at Aggborough, Jaiden soon had to contend with dropping down the football pyramid in order to force his career in football. As a result, he found himself as low as Step 3 with stints at Stafford Rangers, Stourbridge and Redditch United, before finally settling in the National League North with Hereford last season.
The winger evidently had no regrets though, and has credited that decision as the reason for his rapid rise back up non-league.
“Just getting the opportunity to showcase my actual ability, I feel like you tend to be when you get to Step 3 you can get into the situations where the levels are a bit lower than you expect for yourself and your ability. I got the chance from Hereford and they allowed me to showcase my ability and here I am now.”
“I’m very excited to make the step up now.”
