Ben White has won four England caps
Published March 24, 2026 • Source: bbc.com
By Emily Salley
Arsenal defender Ben White has been called up to the England squad for the first time in more than three years.
The 27-year-old has not been involved since leaving the camp during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for personal reasons.
White then made himself unavailable (http://bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68568456) for selection for the rest of Gareth Southgate's reign.
England play friendlies against Uruguay on 27 March and Japan on 31 March at Wembley.
White has not played for England since a 3-0 friendly win against Ivory Coast in March 2022.
He replaces Jarell Quansah in Thomas Tuchel's expanded 35-man squad after the Bayer Leverkusen defender was ruled out with a thigh injury.
White has made only seven Premier League appearances for leaders Arsenal this season.
However, he has played in eight of their 10 Champions League games in their run to the quarter-finals and started Sunday's 2-0 Carabao Cup final defeat by Manchester City.
Real Madrid defender Trent Alexander-Arnold was overlooked for the fourth successive England squad.
After Real's derby victory over Atletico Madrid on Sunday, former Liverpool full-back Alexander-Arnold wrote on Instagram: "Madrid. And nothing else."
'It seems a strange call'
White's call-up, and the continued exclusion of Alexander-Arnold, was a talking point on BBC Radio 5 Live's Monday Night Club.
Former England forward Chris Sutton called the decision "left-field".
"It does seem strange to me," Sutton said.
"White's game time hasn't been great at Arsenal.
"Tuchel has said he knows what the players can do. He clearly has something against Trent, doesn't rate him in some way, shape or form. It seems very odd on the outside that a player who everyone views as this wonderful talent, a great passer [can't get in]. It does seem out of left-field for Ben White to get the nod over Trent in that position.
"It's what the competition is at right-back. Reece James is number one, but after that you look at all the others and think 'really, is there no space for Trent?'. It seems that with Thomas Tuchel his face doesn't fit."
With just two friendlies after this camp before the World Cup, Observer journalist Rory Smith believes Alexander-Arnold's chance of making the tournament are over.
"Thomas Tuchel seems to be enjoying a policy of radical honesty and is making it clear he's going to do this the way he wants to do it," Smith said. "There's 35 players in the squad and it's March. The World Cup's in three months and I would suggest if Trent Alexander-Arnold isn't in the squad now, he won't be in the squad in June."
'Tuchel has executed his plan' - analysis
By Sami Mokbel (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/topics/cpv471x401jt)
Senior football correspondent
White's return to international football has been over a year in the making.
One of Tuchel's first jobs upon his appointment as England head coach was to gauge how open White was to playing for his country again.
White exiled himself from selection after a falling-out with assistant coach Steve Holland at the World Cup, which led to the right-back returning home.
Southgate tried to provide an olive branch and approached then Arsenal sporting director Edu to find out if White would return to the England fold.
We know White's response.
But Southgate and Holland's departure after Euro 2024 changed the dynamic.
In March 2025 - before Tuchel's first game in charge - he said White had communicated that he was available for selection.
Sources have told BBC Sport that Tuchel intended to select White for the games against Andorra and Senegal in May, but his selection did not materialise because of family reasons.
In September a knee injury prevented White from being called up against Serbia and Andorra.
White has played a peripheral role at Arsenal this season - Jurrien Timber is first-choice right-back - and injury has disrupted his campaign.
But Tuchel has finally executed his plan. Time will tell if White was worth waiting for.