The England squad for the fixtures against Brazil and Belgium were announced by Gareth Southgate earlier this week with one glaring omission; Arsenal ace, Ben White.
Although the Gunners right-back hasn’t been selected for international duty since the Qatar World Cup, he has been in superb form for Arsenal and would have almost certainly been a shoo-in for the European Championship squad.
Southgate noted in his press conference announcement that Arsenal had called him ahead of any squad announcement to say that White didn’t want to be considered for the national team, and it’s a decision which has drawn widespread criticism.
Ben White wants his England decision to be respected
The general feeling appears to be centred around the fact that all players should consider it the ultimate privilege to be selected for their country, so White’s snub could be seen as incredibly disrespectful.
However, as Fabrizio Romano noted in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside, White himself wants his decision respected.
“Ben White is not part of the English national team and has not been included in Gareth Southgate’s recent list of call ups,” Romano said.
“Why? I can tell you that the position of the player was announced last week to Gareth Southgate. He was informed of the news by Arsenal, and the feeling of those close to Ben White is that this situation is not going to change in the short-term.
“This is a very clear position from the player at the moment, it’s considered to be serious and he wants to be respected.
“We will see if one day Ben White will change his mind but at the moment he’s not changing his position.
“Also, the player signed a new contract at Arsenal this week. The agreements have been completed on a deal through until 2028 with an option for a further season.”
It’s clearly a divisive topic, and all the while the player himself doesn’t speak on the issue, an air of mystery will remain.
He will undoubtedly be questioned by the media about it in due course, though it needn’t be the headline-grabbing saga it seems to have become at this point.
England have cover in his position so it’s surely already time to move on from this story.