Ben White has left Qatar and the 2022 World Cup to return home.
In a statement on the FA website, ‘personal reasons’ are cited as the cause for his early departure.
The full statement reads:
Ben White has left England’s training base in Al Wakrah and returned home for personal reasons.
The Arsenal defender is not expected to return to the squad for the remainder of the tournament.
We ask that the player’s privacy is respected at this moment in time.
The 24 year old didn’t feature in England’s first two games, and missed Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Spain Wales due to illness.
Win over Spain? Did I miss something?
But dam this does not sound good for Benny Blanc. Gutted for him
oops, fixed now
Spoiler alert for the final.
Good luck Ben. Hopefully. Not too serious……
Hmm I hope he is ok
My gut says it’s a death in the family. Whatever it is, it can’t be good news. I just hope it’s the smallest of bad news
Same, and presumably a close family member to push him to go home… Maybe he’s more inclined to go home given he’s mostly surplus to requirements… Who’s betting the remaining CBs all break down in the coming week?!
I think I read Nico Williams lost a grandpatent the day before tournament. These things must be so tough for players.
Anyway, thoughts and prayers with him and his family.
Signs point to a miscarriage as a possibility.
Thoughts are with you Ben
If I had to spend weeks looking at Harry Kane I would probably want to leave as well
Unfortunate news, but it’s all a little “odd”, isn’t it. Perhaps more information will come out/ be released later.
Why is it odd? There’s obviously been something that’s happened in his personal/family life, so he’s gone home.
Well, he wasn’t available for the earlier game because of “illness”. True, it wasn’t stated whether it was his illness or that of a family member, but I think we all assumed it was his as there’s nothing particularly unusual in that. However, his premature departure from the tournament now looks like it is a family problem of some sort (“personal reasons”) which wasn’t clear from the earlier explanation, was it.
You aren’t owed a full explanation and enough has been given to explain his departure.
I want to believe the information and assume it’s a serious issue in Ben’s family. I certainly wish him all the best with that. However, the cynical side of me is with Boy Bastin – we never hear the truth from any of these media departments and I fear something different is at play. Mild disciplinary event of some sort?
Prayers are going up for you and yours, Benjamin. Cheers 😍🙏🏾🙏🏾
Whatever the “personal reasons” our hearts are with Benny and his family. It’s good news in disguise for the Arsenal that he’s not injured and will have some time to have a well deserved rest before joining up with the boys later in the month.
The report says he missed the Wales game due to sickness.
His mum dying is good news for Arsenal? GTFO here.
Where in the report did it say his mum died?
Some people just jump at other’s throat on the internet for no reason.
How do you know his mum has died. If true then your aggressive comment is totally inappropriate, if not true and you have just made this up, then you need help. More will be revealed me thinks.
It’s not clear this is “good news in disguise” because the personal reason serious enough for him to withdraw from the WC might still weigh on him after the restart.
I hope that “personal reason” means that he has done something bad within the England squad and Southgate has decided to throw him out. Because if not, this would mean a family emergency, and no one wants that to be the case.
Just an educated guess – and in no way intended to be idle speculation – but I’m thinking this probably a family bereavement.
Whatever the reason, let’s all unite to wish the lad all the best and get behind him.
We’re all with you Ben.
Some of the comments on this article made me reevaluate my stance on freedom of speech
Quite. Get well soon Ben, whatever has happened.
Freedom of speech means allowing people to say things that are enormously stupid. It allows everyone else the freedom to tell them how stupid they sound.
Respecting his privacy means not speculating, a real challenge for us in this social media age.