More information on Ben White’s decision not to play for England has started to emerge, in light of Gareth Southgate’s revelation on Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad was confirmed, with Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Aaron Ramsdale, and Declan Rice all involved, but Ben White left out again.

In light of White’s form, this should have been surprising, but it’s been clear for a while that there’s more to the decision than just performances.

Southgate then confirmed as much in his post-announcement press conference, revealing that White had opted not to be selected.

“Clearly, on form, I can’t sit here and say he doesn’t deserve to be in,” Southgate said.

“John McDermott had a call from Edu last week to say Ben didn’t want to be considered for England squads at this time.”

“He’s a player I really like, a player we took to the Euros when he was at Brighton (in 2021), a player we took to the World Cup (2022),” Southgate added.

“I spoke to him, post-Qatar, because I was keen to pick him but 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 who can make a difference for England, but he’s not available to us.”

Southgate went on to say that Arsenal were aware that he was going to make White’s refusal public, before claiming the decision has nothing to do with himself of assistant manager Steve Holland.

“I should say there’s never been any issue with Steve Holland,” Southgate said. “That has been mentioned and I don’t like that.

“I have to accept that things get said that are false about me.

“But I’m not prepared for that to happen for a key member of my coaching team because that is not the reason Ben is unavailable for selection.”

So why doesn’t White want to be called up?

For a start, it’s worth mentioning that it’s clearly not the case that White has no interest in playing for his country.

Back in 2021, when White was first called up, he spoke of the emotional impact of the call.

“I got told the news [when] I was out for dinner,” White said then. “I didn’t really believe it!

“It was obviously unbelievable. [I] put the phone down, rang my mum straight away, sat down there, cried, mum was crying, my dad.

“I just sat and cried for about an hour, couldn’t really believe it and I don’t think it’s settled in yet.”

But those feelings appeared to fade when he was confronted with the realities of attending two major tournaments with England.

The Athletic report that White found it difficult being out of the team. At Euro 2020, the defender was technically in the squad, but he only made the bench twice in seven games. He was fit, he was just completely left out five times in seven matches.

Then at the World Cup, White was on the bench against Iran and the USA, but he still didn’t get any minutes. Between those two tournaments, he played 135 minutes of football for England.

Despite Southgate’s claims that Steve Holland has nothing to do with White’s situation, The Athletic add that White did have a row with the assistant manager during the World Cup camp. Though it was a week before he pulled out of the squad.

Perhaps White is also not to happy that those details of his row with Holland leaked to the media in the first place. They only emerged after White’s decision to leave the squad was made public, almost like they were released for PR reasons.

With White signing a new contract at Arsenal that could last all the way until 2029, most fans of the club probably don’t care too much why the defender isn’t playing for England.

The increasingly demanding football calendar is slightly more forgiving for those who don’t fly off on international duty every month or two. England’s loss may well be Arsenal’s gain.