Declan Rice hopes Arsenal team-mate Ben White will reconsider stance on England selection
Declan Rice says he hopes Arsenal team-mate Ben White will change his mind on his decision not to play for England.
Gareth Southgate revealed recently that White made himself unavailable for England selection. Arsenal’s sporting director Edu had phoned FA technical director John McDermott to inform him of White’s direction.
The defender has had an excellent season for Arsenal but went home early from the 2022 World Cup squad due to “personal reasons” and no longer wishes to be picked for his country, for whom he earned four caps between 2021 and 2022.
Rice, who will captain England against Belgium on Tuesday, said: “Obviously, Ben, 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.
“Gareth, dealt with it this week, spoke about it. We’ve obviously not been going into the training grounds, so I haven’t spoken to Ben on a one-to-one level about it.”
Rice continued: “It’s hard to know, really, what’s going on. Ben made this decision. Obviously he doesn’t want to play for England at this moment in time.
“Gareth has had a conversation with him about it and there’s not much else I can really say to him.
“Playing for England is the greatest honour you could ever have. So hopefully, with the quality that he has and the quality he can bring to this side, we can get him back in.”
England lost 1-0 to Brazil in a Wembley friendly on Saturday and face Domenico Tedesco’s Belgium on Tuesday, when Rice will lead them out on the occasion of his 50th cap.
