Arsenal’s Ben White has received a surprise late call-up for the England squad, with Eberechi Eze’s withdrawal also now officially confirmed.
Following Mikel Arteta’s confirmation and media reports over the last 24 hours, England have officially announced that Eberechi Eze has withdrawn from their squad for the March internationals.
But Arsenal are still set to have four players in the England squad, with Ben White receiving a surprise call-up to join Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, and Noni Madueke.
To be clear, White isn’t a direct replacement for Eze. He’s instead replacing Bayer Leverkusen defender Jarell Quansah, who has a thigh injury. Eze has been replaced by Newcastle United’s Harvey Barnes.
England boss Thomas Tuchel had confirmed that White was an option to return to the squad in previous international breaks, despite his fall-out with the national team under Gareth Southgate. But with White’s minutes at Arsenal proving limited, he didn’t get a call-up anyway.
That’s now changed, with Jurrien Timber’s injury getting White back in the Arsenal first team and England in need of a defender.
White might now feel he has an outside chance to prove himself in time for the summer World Cup, if he can impress over the next week or so and then keep his place at Arsenal.
England play a couple of friendlies against Uruguay and Japan over the next eight days, and Tuchel has also confirmed that Saka and Rice won’t be involved until after the Uruguay match.
The Gunners duo are among a group of players Tuchel has identified as having played a high number of minutes this season, so he’s giving them a rest until this weekend.