White snubs England but Southgate says door still open
Gareth Southgate has revealed in-form Arsenal defender Ben White does not want to be selected by England at the moment.
The 26-year-old has starred for the Premier League leaders this season but has not featured in the national team squad since the 2022 World Cup.
White returned early from Qatar for what the Football Association called "personal reasons" and reports later emerged of an alleged bust-up with England assistant Steve Holland.
Southgate denied any such fall-out yesterday, when he had hoped to include the defender in his squad for March's Euro 2024 warm-up friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
"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," the England boss said. We, [FA technical director] John Mcdermott, had a call from [Arsenal sporting director] Edu last week to say that Ben didn't want to be considered for England squads at this time.
"For me, that's a great shame. He's a player 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 on 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 I think he's a player who can 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 I should say there's never any issue with Steve Holland because that has sort of been mentioned in articles and I don't like that.
"People can talk about me, and I have to accept that things get said that are false about me. For whatever reason in this role, you have to almost stomach that.
"But I'm not prepared for that to happen for a key member of my coaching team because that is not the reason Ben is unavailable for selection."
Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite and Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon have received their first England call-ups but there was no place for Kalvin Phillips. Joe Gomez, who won the last of his 11 senior caps in October 2020, is back in for March's Wembley friendlies against Belgium and Brazil, while Ivan Toney is back involved at the first opportunity after serving an eight-month FA betting ban.
Manchester City midfielder Phillips has been dropped after a torrid run of form since he joined West Ham on loan in January. “His form hasn't been good enough,” said Southgate.
ENGLAND SQUAD
(for friendlies with Brazil on 23 March and Belgium on 26 March)
Goalkeepers: Sam Johnstone (Crystal Palace), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Aaron Ramsdale (Arsenal).
Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Lewis Dunk (Brighton), Joe Gomez (Liverpool), Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa), Harry Maguire (Man Utd), John Stones (Man City), Kyle Walker (Man City).
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), Jordan Henderson (Ajax), James Maddison (Tottenham), Declan Rice (Arsenal). Forwards: Jarrod Bowen (West Ham), Phil Foden (Man City), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle), Harry Kane (Bayern Munich), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Marcus Rashford (Man United), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal), Ivan Toney (Brentford), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa).