Why Ben White deserved fresh England call-up

England manager Gareth Southgate announced his squad for the upcoming fixtures against Australia and Italy earlier today.

Aaron Ramsdale, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Eddie Nketiah made the cut from Arsenal, but Ben White was omitted once more.

The 25-year-old has been one of the best performing defenders in the Premier League and he has had another impressive season.

White started the campaign in central defence for the Gunners but since September, he has been operating from the right-back role.

Despite the change in positions, he has been effective with his distribution, completing 87 per cent of his passes in the Premier League.

The Englishman has won 53 per cent of his duels this campaign with four recoveries per game. He has chipped in with a solitary goal.

In our opinion, White should have been in the squad with his consistent form at the back.

Southgate has two specialist right-backs in Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier, but White should have been picked owing to his versatility.

He is definitely a better option for the Three Lions compared to Harry Maguire, who has played just 26 minutes in the top-flight this term.

We believe White’s continuous exclusion has something to do with his early departure from the World Cup in Qatar last winter.

It was reported back then that he returned home after a fall-out with a key member of the coaching staff.

We don’t see any another reason behind Southgate’s reluctance to hand a fresh call-up to the €55 million-rated star in his squad.

Southgate once said that he would pick his squad based on club minutes, but he has gone back on his statement to pick his favourites.

Maguire and Kalvin Phillips continue to make the squad despite being fringe players at club level.

Jordan Henderson is surprisingly in the Three Lions set-up despite moving to Saudi Arabia over the summer to play with Al-Ettifaq.

Stats from Sofascore.com & Transfermarkt.com