England called up Arsenal right-back Ben White for upcoming friendlies following an injury suffered by Bayer Leverkusen center back Jarell Quansah.
Newcastle United’s Harvey Barnes has also been added to the 35-man squad with Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze injured. But it was White’s addition that drew the most attention, given that he has not featured for England since 2022 amid reports of a falling out with the former coaching staff.
White, 28, has four caps for England but none since leaving the team’s camp in Qatar after playing against Ivory Coast in March 2022. Personal reasons were cited at the time, but there were reports that White made himself unavailable during the remainder of Gareth Southgate’s tenure.
Barnes’ lone previous appearance with the senior team came in October 2020. He is Newcastle’s second-leading scorer with 14 goals across all competitions this season, and Scotland had been hoping to convince the winger to join its World Cup squad.
Thomas Tuchel, who took over as England manager in late 2024, chose to select White for matches against Uruguay on Friday and Japan next Tuesday despite him having started only five Premier League matches for Arsenal this season. Meanwhile, Real Madrid starting right back Trent Alexander-Arnold did not get the call.
Arnold-Alexander has played only once under Tuchel, who was asked if the omission from this squad makes it highly unlikely that Arnold-Alexander will make the World Cup squad.
“No. I know that it is a tough decision for Trent as it is for, I guess, for Ollie Watkins, at the moment, and for Luke Shaw,” Tuchel said. “These tough decisions come with the job.”
Tuchel, who is without injured starting right-back Reece James, noted the depth that England has at right fullback while adding that he feels comfortable with what players such as Watkins can provide to the club through previous tournaments and qualifiers.
“I know it’s a tough one, I know (Arnold-Alexander) is a big name,” Tuchel said. “I think that he’s a huge talent with a big career, but I feel like I know what Trent can give us and decided to still to stick to the players who were in camp with us.
“It is more the evidence that we have that we were good in September, October, November, than it has anything to do with what Trent cannot offer. I know very well what Trent can offer us. I played many times against him and suffered, and suffered when he played against us against my teams with Liverpool. So, I know very well about his strengths and what he can give.”
–Field Level Media
