Ben White: Arsenal star made himself unavailable for England selection, says Gareth Southgate. | Football
England boss Gareth Southgate said Ben White was omitted from his Three Lions squad for upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium because he made himself unavailable for selection.
White has been in fine form for Arsenal this term, and provided two assists for Arsenal in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Brentofrd last Saturday.
The defender’s ability to play at both centre-back and right-back is a major bonus going into a tournament when managers need tactical flexibility.
White was selected for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but left the squad before the last-16 clash against Senegal for ‘personal reasons’.
That has been the cause of much speculation, with rumours swirling around that White had fallen out with members of England’s backroom staff.
But Southgate denies that, and says White would have been selected for the spring internationals had he not made himself unavailable.
Asked if White is available for selection, Southgate replied: ‘Look, it’s absolutely the question you should ask because clearly on form I can’t sit here and say he doesn’t deserve to be in.
‘We, [FA technical director] John McDermott, had a call from [Arsenal sporting director] Edu last week to say that Ben did not want to be considered for the England squad at this time.
‘For me that’s a great shame. He’s a player that I really like. He’s a player that we took to a Euros when he was at Brighton, a player that we took to the World Cup.
‘I spoke to him post-Qatar because I was keen to pick him and there was clearly reticence from his side.
‘I don’t know fully why that is, but I have to respect that.
‘I want to leave the door open for him because he’s a good player and I think he’s a player that could make a difference for England.
‘But he’s not available to us and so the only other thing I would say is, there is no issue between us at all.’
‘And also should say there was never any issue with Steve Holland, because that has been sort of mentioned in articles and I don’t like that.
‘People can talk about me and I have to accept that things get said and are false about me, and for whatever reason in this role you have to almost stomach that, but I’m not prepared for that to happen to a key member of my coaching team because that is not the reason that Ben is unavailable for selection.
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