Manchester United captain Harry Maguire is expected to start against Italy in England’s penultimate match before the World Cup tonight. Whilst that's good news for the 29-year-old, it serves as a harsh reminder to Arsenal star Ben White.
Many presumed White would be recalled to Gareth Southgate's squad after a fine start for the Gunners this campaign. With a decent return of three clean sheets in seven games, Arsenal sit top of the Premier League, having won six of those encounters.
Meanwhile, Maguire was dropped to United's bench following the club's humiliating 4-0 defeat to Brentford in August. A pairing of new signing Lisandro Martinez and serial winner Raphael Varane has been Erik ten Hag's preferred partnership since.
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Arsenal legend Martin Keown offered an explanation as to why Southgate opted against selecting White this time around. As the 24-year-old has been operating on the right-hand side of defence for Mikel Arteta so far this season, he hasn't been in his normal position in the centre. That's perhaps where Southgate envisages how he can help the team in the England manager's favoured 5-2-3 system.
“A little bit disappointed, but then Ben has played right-back since the start of the season," he told talkSPORT. "He has not been in his usual position. You could argue that he has actually lost his position as a central defender and has come out of there. That’s where Southgate would like to use him.”
The problem is, England have a host of top quality right-backs who are all arguably better than White in that position. The likes of Reece James, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Kyle Walker have all been in the debate for 'best right-back in the world' at some point, meaning it will be significantly more difficult to nail down a position in the squad solely as a right-sided defender.
Aside from that, an additional worry for White and his World Cup hopes is that Southgate completely trusts Maguire, primarily because he's never put a foot wrong in an England shirt. As per The Athletic, United's skipper is in line to start for England in Milan tonight (Friday) despite being absent from the last four Red Devils starting line-ups.
Providing he doesn't play badly, you'd have to expect that Southgate's thinking will be the same come November. Unfortunately, White is running out of time to make a lasting impression on the Three Lions' boss.
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