According to the most recent reports, England’s Steve Holland got into a fight with Ben White in front of his teammates at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The Arsenal defender eventually withdrew from international football as a result of this.
The Stockpile defender left the England camp during the tournament. However, some English sports pundits and fans are speculating that, turning down England will make him regret it.
Ben White’s decision to pull out from international football was very nearly two years in the making, however it started from a sharp comment from Gareth Southgate’s right hand Steve Holland.
As Southgate announced England team for the impending friendlies against Belgium and Brazil, he revealed that White had asked not to be thought of.
It came after the Arsenal’s full-back left England camp halfway through the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because of ‘personal reasons’, with later reports he had a beat down with Holland.
Holland questioned White’s interest in football while England were in Qatar in November 2022, which led to the rift between the two.
The assistant to Southgate reportedly asked Kyle Walker a question about Manchester City’s performance last season before asking White the same thing about Arsenal.
Holland claimed that the 26-year-old’s inability to provide an answer was due to his lack of interest in football. The discussion is said to have occurred in front other people from the team.
On November 30, a day after England beat Wales 3-0 in their last group game, the English FA declared White had left camp and gotten back.
The Telegraph reports that, White was more offended by the conversation’s public nature than by Holland’s specific comment.
Meanwhile, Southgate has steadfastly maintained there were no issues between Holland and the Arsenal defender in Qatar.
‘People can talk about me, and I have to accept that things get said that are false about me,’ he said last week when asked about White’s decision to make himself unavailable for selection.
‘For whatever reason in this role, you have to almost stomach that. But I’m not prepared for that to happen for a key member of my coaching team because that is not the reason Ben is unavailable for selection.’
The England manager also said that he didn’t try to get the Arsenal defender to change his mind, which suggests that he thinks White won’t.
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The England head coach also said that he was told about White’s decision during his squad announcement last week after Arsenal sporting director Edu talked on the phone with his FA counterpart John McDermott.
When he got some information about White’s sentiments about playing for Three Lions, Southgate answered: ‘I’m not able to articulate that.
‘You’d have to speak to him or Arsenal to get an understanding of that. There have been players over the years in my time who didn’t want to be available.
‘I’ve had that since we’ve been here. It’s not the only time [a player has turned down a call up].
