Ben White’s lack of love for football may have led to the Arsenal star flying home from the Qatar World Cup. It is reported that the defender left the England camp after struggling to gel with his team-mates and being ill-prepared for a team meeting, which caused a spat with the national team’s assistant coach Steve Holland.
White has enjoyed a successful campaign with Arsenal so far this season, being deployed as a right-back, where he has thrived. The new role appears to have brought the best out of the former Brighton star, giving him the freedom to carry the ball forward and push on whilst also tapping into his natural defensive attributes.
Thus, the 25-year-old was a shoo-in for Gareth Southgate when selecting his England team to travel to the World Cup. Though the former Middlesbrough boss may have overlooked White’s attitude towards football, which consequently is claimed to have sparked a problem with assistant manager Steve Holland.
White departed England’s World Cup squad early due to ‘personal reasons’. An FA statement read: “Ben White has left England’s training base in Al Wakrah and returned home for personal reasons. The Arsenal defender is not expected to return to the squad for the remainder of the tournament. We ask that the player’s privacy is respected at this moment in time.”
But according to the Daily Star, White actually left the Three Lions squad because he was ‘unhappy in the camp’ and was not mixing well with his team-mates. The final straw came when the defender arrived at a meeting without information about his own personal stats and the opposition ahead of the USA clash, leading to a bust-up with Holland, the report claims.
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