Ben White's position within the England set-up has been revealed, with the Arsenal star still absent from contention during this international break.
The post-Gareth Southgate England era is now underway, with interim boss Lee Carsley leading the Three Lions to Nations League victories over the Republic of Ireland and Finland. The England U21s boss is now the favourite to land the job on a permanent basis and made a series of changes to the squad that Southgate selected for Euro 2024, where the Three Lions lost in the final to Spain.
While the likes of Angel Gomes, Morgan Gibbs-White and Noni Madueke made their senior international debuts during this month’s double-header, there was again no place in the squad for Arsenal defender White.
The 26-year-old has not been selected for an England squad since he left the Three Lions 2022 World Cup camp during the tournament for personal reasons. Southgate had said that White “was not available for us” when he selected his final squad earlier this summer and Carsley has now revealed that White’s stance has not changed.
When asked if he was planning to speak to White before October’s Nations League matches against Greece and Finland, Carsley answered: "I've not planned to, no. We spoke about this in the squad selection.
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“Every player that is eligible to play for England is in with a chance. As far as I'm aware he asked to not be contacted. If that changes, that will change.
"I think it is important that we have real competition all over the pitch, and the more players we have available to pick from the better it is."
White has started each of Arsenal’s three Premier League games so far this season at right-back and was a key player for the Gunners last season when they took the Premier League title race to the final before coming up short against Manchester City.
Carsley saw Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold excel in the right-back position against the Republic of Ireland and Finland, while Newcastle United’s Tino Livramento was selected as back-up.
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