Declan Rice says he and his English Arsenal teammates will try to convince Ben White to play for England again, but it’s ultimately up to the player himself.
Ben White is currently absent from the England camp over the international break, with Gareth Southgate suggesting he would have liked to call up the defender but White wasn’t willing to accept the call.
White’s Arsenal teammate Declan Rice is with England on international duty, preparing to captain the team against Belgium on Tuesday night, and he spoke to the media about White’s decision.
“The only thing I can say is, it’s Ben’s life. It’s Ben’s decision,” Rice said. “We can’t argue with him with what he wants to do. Of course, there’s always going to be people writing stuff, having their opinions on what they think.
“But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what he thinks and at this moment in time, he obviously doesn’t want to play for England.”
That being said, Rice was clearly keen to find out exactly why White isn’t playing for England, and to change his teammate’s mind if possible.
“When I go back and I’ll speak to him and see,” Rice said.
“Hopefully he does change his mind on that because having a player like that – in the squad who’s performing well in the Premier League – it’d be a great addition to the (England) squad.
“If you know him as a person and as a player like I do, he’s such a good guy. He’s such a good guy and he’s an unbelievable footballer.
“So hopefully, with the quality that he has and the quality he can bring to this side, we can get him back in.
“I would love him to come. I think Bukayo (Saka) would. I think Aaron Ramsdale would. I think we’re all going to be on him when we get back to say… hopefully, he can change his mind but I don’t know the ins and outs of that conversation.”
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. In the time between those two tournaments, he played just 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 a week before he pulled out of the squad.
Whatever the reasons behind the decision, White remains out of the England squad for the time being.