‘Not an option’: Southgate says he had to go public on Ben White England snub

Gareth Southgate has revealed that Ben White does not want to be considered for England selection, saying he had to go public with the truth because to continue to “protect” the Arsenal player would have been to risk his own credibility.

Southgate wanted to call up White for the upcoming Wembley friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, with the Football Association making inquiries about adding him to the pre-squad-announcement long list. White, outstanding for Arsenal as they have surged to the top of the Premier League and into the Champions League quarter-finals, went home early from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar – his last involvement with England. Southgate said Arsenal’s technical director, Edu, had phoned his FA counterpart John McDermott to say that White had made himself unavailable. Southgate, who has not spoken to White in recent weeks, said he did not know why the defender did not want to play for England.

The manager has recalled Ivan Toney and Joe Gomez and given first call-ups to Jarrad Branthwaite and Anthony Gordon. He has been forced to deal with a slew of injury absentees, taking in Kieran Trippier, Luke Shaw, Reece James, Levi Colwill, Marc Guéhi, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jack Grealish and Callum Wilson. Ben Chilwell and Harry Maguire are in despite missing recent club games.

Southgate has dropped Kalvin Phillips, having decided he could no longer stand by the midfielder in the face of his struggle for form, and there were no places for Rico Lewis, Fikayo Tomori or Raheem Sterling. White was the most prominent storyline. Earlier Arsenal had announced he had signed a new four-year contract with the option of an extra year. They had negative headlines coming down the track.

“In these situations I’ve tried to protect players,” Southgate said. “Clearly that is impossible at this point [with White]. Because the timing of asking to come off the long list and the fact that … I don’t have huge credibility but there would be none if I didn’t pick him on form.

“I don’t think it would be right not to state the situation we’re in. We’ve explained to Arsenal we were going to do that. And if you make a decision like that, you do have to stand by it.”

Southgate wanted to “keep the door open” for White but admitted there was virtually no chance of him going to the European Championship in Germany this summer. White is understood to be open to returning at some point.

“I don’t want there to be a backlash [against White],” Southgate said. “I understand we’re in a situation where that could happen. For me, the shame is that he’s a player I like. I would have liked to have picked him. But it’s not an option that’s open to me. I completely respect it.

“I haven’t spoken to him since this decision because I think it would be a similar conversation to the last one I had with him after Qatar. I could sense a reticence there which I felt I should back away from. I think it’s for him now.”

White did not feel at ease in Qatar, which is why he asked to go home, but Southgate said he was unable to articulate the specifics about why the player’s international career was on hold. He attacked the notion that it was because of an issue with his assistant Steve Holland.

“You’d have to speak to him or Arsenal to get an understanding,” Southgate said. “For me, England was the pinnacle. But I wasn’t at a club going for the league title or in the last couple of rounds of the Champions League. Everybody’s wired differently. There’s clearly a reason. But I don’t know the full reason.”

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Toney is back at the first time of asking after his eight-month ban for breaking the FA’s betting rules, and Southgate spoke effusively about the centre-forward’s “super quality” and “tremendous self-belief”. He added that Toney’s suspension was “in the past … he’s got to move forward now, everybody has.”

On Phillips, Southgate said he “couldn’t be confident on the performances he’s had in the last few weeks that he could go on to the field and do the job we know that he’s capable of”. He added: “Maybe it’s a moment where you think that’s perhaps the lowest it can get for him … now he can just go for it and be himself.”

There was an update on Shaw, who he confirmed was touch and go for the finals. “We are all hoping – ourselves and Manchester United – that he could be back just before the end of the league season,” he said. “But that is getting really tight to the Euros and there is a reality about whether it’s possible to play seven games in the Euros. There is getting fit to play but there is also what that means about level of performance.”

Southgate again made his personal position clear; he is focused purely on delivering at the Euros and by that he means winning the tournament. Only then would he consider his next move – whether to stay or go. He is under contract to December. The FA would love him to extend for the 2026 World Cup.

“We’ve consciously shelved any discussions internally about what might be next,” Southgate said. “Because if we had sat and signed a new contract and done that before the tournament, everybody would have said: ‘Well, you did this with [Fabio] Capello [before the 2010 World Cup] and you should be proving yourself before you sign.’ I have no idea where we’ll be in the middle of July other than I hope it’s Trafalgar Square and let’s get the party on.

“I think that [new contract talks] has the potential to negatively affect the reaction to the team. The team need the clearest run they can possibly have at this tournament.”