Gareth Southgate says Ben White has asked not to be selected by England and that he was informed of the player’s decision by Arsenal last week.
White, who has four caps to his name, hasn’t been called up by the Three Lions since making a premature exit from their World Cup camp in Qatar in December 2022.
Both parties have kept their counsel for over a year but pressed by the media today about why the country’s most in-form right-back was once again excluded, Southgate tackled the subject head-on.
“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,” said the England manager.
“We,[FA Technical Director] John McDermott, had a call from 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 the 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 he’s a good player and I think he’s a player that can make a difference for England.”
"We got a call from Edu last week saying Ben didn't want to be considered… it's a great shame"❌
Gareth Southgate confirms Ben White not being in the @England squad was the @Arsenal defender's choice… but hasn't ruled out a return in the future.
🔗https://t.co/uYKEuTFzQF pic.twitter.com/2OvUGFZnrA
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) March 14, 2024
It’s believed Southgate did tell Arsenal in advance that he’d talk about White if asked about the situation today but clearly, the England manager stopped short of telling the full truth.
Did that tip-off spark the Gunners into announcing the player’s contract extension? A bit of good PR before the bad. We’ll leave you to decide…
Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale and Declan Rice did get the nod for England in what will be the final get-together before Southgate decides his squad for the European Championships in Germany at the end of the season.
Best right back in the country, I can totally understand why Southgate wants him playing. Would love to know what’s going on for Benjamin!
I’d wager at least one part of it is that for him this is a job rather than some combo of passionate obsession and ego-boosting something to brag about that it is to most other footballers. So if you’re not playing football to be a hero, nor are you obsessed with the game that much that you’d do it for free, and they’re not paying you anywhere near market rate, then why the hell would you do it?
Who would want to play for Southgate though, if he has his own designated favourites? If Southgate could he would field 11 Maguires in the starting XI.
10 Maguires. Got to get Henderson in there somewhere.
He has made the right choice. He doesn’t want to play for a manager that uses favouritism to pick his team rather than merit or form. Don’t blame him for deciding not to make up numbers in training when you have donkeys like Maguire getting picked. England will not win anything with Southgate as manager.
The reliable word is that it’s a combo of Ben’s not wanting to risk injury with the CL knock-outs coming up and not wanting to make the disruption just to warm the bench.
I must say I quite like him putting Arsenal first.
Cunt Southgate going public to press Ben and destroyer his public image.
Imagine Ben doing the opposite “I asked Southgate why he didn’t pick me and he said he had to take Maguire no matter what”.
What is discussed between them should stay incognito.
What a shameful leader Southgate is
I have little time for Southgate, but he’s damned if he does say something and damned if he doesn’t. We’d all be criticizing him for not taking White if we didn’t know better.
Southgate going public to press Ben and destroy his public image.
Imagine Ben doing the opposite “I asked Southgate why he didn’t pick me and he said he had to take Maguire no matter what”.
What is discussed between them should stay incognito.
What a shameful leader Southgate is
If only we could every one of our players to do the same
I notice KdB has withdrawn from the Belgium squad with a ‘minor strain’.
I really wish we’d ask all our players to do the same, just this one time!
He is who he is.
I feel like it’s an open secret what happened back in December ‘22. Not that I know!
But Latte Firm said he knew in a recent podcast and said it was hilarious / ridiculous. He implied it has something to do with the fact that Ben White doesn’t like watching football.
My guess is that Southgate felt they should all sit down together and watch a World Cup game and White was like “Fuck that, these sun bathing Instagram pictures won’t take themselves”.
If that’s the reason it’s pathetic from Southgate. It’s not something White did at the world cup or we would have all heard about it by now.
It’s driven by Ben himself – combo of not wanting to risk injury with the title run-in and CL knock-outs looming, together with disrupting his season to go sit on the bench for Southgate.
Not sure its bad PR to be honest. The fallout Ben had with one of the England coaches, means he doesn’t want to deal with the BS. I love him more for that.
And what a load of BS it is Southgate pretending that he doesn’t know what this is about and that he’s the high and mighty innocent party here. He couldn’t manage the situation at the Euros and Benny is making it clear that he wants no part of Southgate and his coaching team, the latter of which Southgate has clearly sided with and prioritised.
As an non-English gooner this is a fantastic outcome on so many levels!
It’s a great outcome and I’m English. Southgate is so far out of depth it’s untrue. To be clear it’s not hard to get to qualify for workd cup and euros when you have players like we have, “go out and beat them, you are far superior in every football sense” that’s qualifying done. Now look at semi final against Croatia and final of euros against Italy. Against Italy he had saka, Foden, grealish on the bench and chose mason fecking mount on the left wing. He did this to cover the Italy right back. We go one nil up… Read more »
Come on, Italy had Jorginho. England didn’t have a chance.
I am an England fan but I’m glad we gooners have him exclusively. I think he will play pretty much every game for us and have a good summer off (get tanned blah blah) but ultimately he will be refreshed and recharged suitably for another great season next time round. Happy Flowers all round.
Except Southgate set in the presser that a dispute with Steve wotsit wasn’t the issue. One doesn’t have to take Southgate at face value of course, but if he’s telling the truth it makes the whole situation a bit more bizarre.
I know a manager who once said he might start subbing keepers at half.
Maybe he was telling the truth too
I don’t think its bizarre. He plays alot of football at the highest level. He travels alot with away games in PL & Champions league. The sterile environment of England and an obvious hierarchy wasn’t for him. I get that. Why not look after himself better with less travel and more home time to recharge.
We know who the next Aubam will be then.
What the hell are you on about?
Not gonna lie, as an English Englishman this makes me love him even more and I don’t quite know why
I’ve always really liked Benny but I’m now beginning to understand the deep love Blogs has for him!
He represents the ancient English values of “F the Authorities”. He’s rich enough to not be bothered by these punt events.
Ben White is too cool for this planet, let alone England. It’s calm.
Clearly doesn’t fancy playing alongside McGuire and behind Henderson. And who can blame him.
You wouldn’t want to be the meat in that sandwich.
Turd sandwich in reverse lol
Behave! England’s squad is full of world class talent, Harry and Hendo included. Merson said the only two players in Europe that could get into this England squad is Van Dijk and Mbappe. England subs like Grealish and Rashford would walk into any European team out there.
Cocaine and alcohol must be one hell of a combo.
Anyway, pleased for Benny Blanco
I’m trying to understand your sense of humour!
It’s about Paul Merson being a terrible pundit. I thought that was obvious
Agree 100%. I’d love all our players to ditch international football.
Like the majority of England fans, he clearly thinks Southgate and his coaches are a bunch of sausages, out of their depth and unlikely to achieve any success. Good for him for sticking to his principles. The sausages will be gone after this Summer’s inevitable failure and assuming a manager comes in who wants to play modern, forward thinking football, Ben will rightly be first choice.
One of the most talent stacked England squads in recent memory and the football served up by Southgate is just dire.
I would LOVE for him to be made United manager ans for them to waste another two years.
Best England manager for 50 years and the idiot fans still only criticise…
*Best England TEAM in the past 50 years. Italy was a disgrace and he never should have made it past that.
Best England Squad, but do me a favour saying best manager!? Not even good enough for a Middlesborough. 1-0 at home in final against a shaken sub par Italy and he decides to try and protect the lead for 80 minutes. He’s just not good enough. An elite level manager would have won something with this England squad by now.
Put another way- who’d you prefer as Arsenal manager ( club loyalties aside) Arteta, Klopp, Wenger, Guardiola or ….. Southgate?
I don’t think Southgate could replace Klopp at Liverpool (or any of the others you name). But being an international manager is different. You don’t have the time to instill intricate patterns required for a pressing attack or a ball control team (the great Spain team was the exception–because there was 6-8 years of player continuity, with almost every player at one of two clubs). So you play, ultimately, a conservative game, relying on counters and individual skill. That’s what Deschamps has needed to do even with the incredible talent and depth of France. That’s why Argentina, with a team… Read more »
Even assuming people agree with you, that’s like being the least annoying sp*rs player.
International breaks are time for Benjamin to engage in his true passion of gardening. Cannot interfere with the man’s gardening time.
Sunbathing.
🤣
OK, I’ll say it.
Gardening is worth it.
Gareth is flashing more than a bit of leg there but Benny Blanco is saving himself for the right one.
Can’t have better thighs than Ben Blanco’s so what a waste of effort
Obviously he’s quite good at telling Southgate to eat shit.
Good for Ben.
Watching England is like root canal surgery. I cannot imagine what it is like losing 90 minutes of your life playing for them.
For Arsenal it is win win…
I’m going for my first root canal next month and if it’s like England 3 Italy 1, I will be delighted
I’m afraid it’ll be more like a long, painful, 0-0 draw after extra time in a major final and then losing on penalties.
To Germany.
As my dear old mother used to say: If they offer you gas, take the gas.
If the doc does the job properly you won’t feel the actual work. Just don’t get behind on the ibuprofen afterwards. You’ll be glad for it to be done.
Oh, and don’t eat in public afterwards until the numb wears off.
Don’t ask me how I know.
I would guess he does want to play for England, just not the current joke shop of a management set-up. Fair play to him for having such strength of character which shouldn’t be a surprise to any of us.
You mean the most successful management setup in 50 years who the rest of the squad can’t praise enough?
Successful how?
The bulk of these English players have won the Euros at junior age groups. This is the best group of talent England has had for 50 years.
Somehow Southgate has them playing rubbish football and IMO underperforming.
Not English, so I’ve got absolutely no horse in this race, but just comparing the back 5 (keeper included) of a couple of decades ago to the current defence makes it hard to believe this is the best England squad in 50 years.
Having said that, I’ve got no qualms in Benny not wanting to be involved.
I agree. No one hates the England set up more than the English apparently.
Kicks him out of the World Cup squad, “I honestly have no idea why Ben doesn’t want to come back”.
OK then.
Have really had enough of Southgate and his ‘butter wouldn’t melt’ persona.
I heard White chose to leave…?
When you know you will never be picked, what will you do?
Get stuffed Southgate, don’t even try to make Benny look like the bad guy. The fact that Southgate is trying to make it look like our lad’s being unreasonable just shows what a tosser he is and why England will probably fail again despite having probably the best team in the tournament.
I think you haven’t watched Southgate’s press conference because he did anything but make anyone out like a bad guy…
I hope Benny wins the champions league. World Cup doesn’t mean jack sht these days
I have to suspect that, for someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy watching football, sitting on the bench watching Kyle Walker do your job must be like being plunged into hell.
I dont blame him, I wouldnt want to play for Southgate either.
A month away from friends and family, doing twice a day training sessions while not even playing a minute of football because the manager has his favourites who play no matter what. It’s a real head scratcher as to why White wasn’t interested in that!
Why exactly does England trust their best team for at least 20 years to a man whose past credentials mostly include getting Middlesborough relegated?
Who should they trust? Nobody better wants the job because of the embarrassing media and pathetic short sighted fans.
Yes. Selling Boros best players, buying Jason Euell and others instead and then calling it Boros most expensive squad. He was a fantastic player for them, but a terrible manager.
Because he’s inoffensive.
He doesn’t want to waste his time riding the bench for England while Southgate ignores the in-form players only to pick his favorites for the starting lineup. Man’s got a garden to keep up. Southgate should have some respect.
Good for you, Benny.
-A Yank
You gotta believe whatever happened it is not about ego, drive, intensity, passion and hard work missing from Ben. Is there a manager in football more demanding than Mikel? And the gaffer loves him.
Nah. It’s simple. Southgate has his favourites, his undroppables. His maguire… henderson… kelvin phillips…. kinda reminds me of haggy boy with antony. England will get booted as usual, so southgate is prime to take over man u, i hope
Maybe if youre the England manager you should be a little more pressing in finding out why it is he doesnt want to be selected. Ultimately though if the differences are irreconcilable, then he should respect his decision.
He knows exactly what is wrong and thrown him under the bus to the media. It’s not acceptable.
“I was keen to pick him and there was clearly reticence on his side. I don’t know fully why”
Maybe ask him you coward.
“He plays when he wants, he plays when he wants.. Benjamin White, he plays when he wants!!”
Southgate is ruining this golden age of England football. They should have a European and a World Cup already… regarding White, my guess is he was promised game time and was not given it…
“It’s such a great shame he doesn’t want to play for me, I really wanted to pick him…but no, I haven’t actually spoke to him about it since December.”
What a wanker.
I heard he doesn’t like the colour white and that’s why he spends hours trying to rid the colour from his body in his tanning studio/coffin, you really can’t blame him if he’s got an mental health issue with the colour of the England Jersey.
Jersey Number 4 player that would have been Arsenal 4th player in the Three Lions asked to be left out. The whole truth would come out someday. Cheers, Benjamin
Any manager that picks the likes of maguire and his other favourites over players in form isn’t for me.
Not a fan of Southgate at all. Stay where you feel at home beautiful Benjamin!
Anyone remember Charlie George knocking back Don Revie?
Utter cowardice from Southgate to throw a player under the bus like that. Something went on at the World Cup and Benjamin and Arsenal have had the class to not go public with it but they’re well within their rights to reply now should they so choose. Southgate just fed Benjamin to the Talksport dinosaur punditry mob and they’re Draconian barely coherent virtue signalling bullshit. His mates on the radio will get up in arms and bleat about what a saint Southgate is and how Benjamin has done him so dirty and now he’s going be public enemy number outside… Read more »
Good