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.
Fabrizio Romano exclusive: he repeats the same thing that has been said all week with no new or additional information… Click click click
It is true it’s an honor to play for one’s country but the team coaches should not carry the hatred the club had with the other clubs to the national team I am not there but I feel the pain otherwise there no way Ben White will say that he doesn’t want to be called to the national team set up let those concerns look in the matter and know where the problem is from either from the coaches or players sometimes the coaches hate a player because he came from the club they hated and such manner doesn’t represent the national unity there must be discipline between coaches and players because you a coach doesn’t give edge to infringe the player’s right this an opportunity to investigate the matter and know where it’s coming from that’s my opinion.
It’s a nothing story created by the anti Arsenal media to unsettle the player and his team just as they are entering the business end of the season when there’s a real possibility that Arsenal football club could win a major trophy and truly ruffle the feathers of the presumed elite clubs of Liverpool and Manchester.