Former England teammate shuts down talk of Ben White issues - 'He was a great lad'

Conor Coady has shared his disappointment overBen White's decision to decline an opportunity to play for England this month.

England manager Gareth Southgate revealed that the Arsenal defender chose not to be considered for the upcoming friendly matches against Brazil and Belgium.

White, 26, hasn't played for the Three Lions since leaving their World Cup squad in 2022 due to reported issues with coach Steve Holland.

Leicester City defender Coady, who also hasn't been called up to the England squad since the tournament in Qatar, spoke about what it's like having White in the England camp. «He was a great character to have around the place,» he told BBC Radio 5Live.

«He is a great lad, first and foremost. How he trains, how he goes on about his business, he is top top drawer.

»What he is doing at this moment in time with Bukayo Saka down the right-hand side for Arsenal is, I think, incredible, and he deserves to play for his country."

Southgate dismissed rumours that White left the England team during the 2022 World Cup because of a disagreement with Holland.

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However, he didn't know why White didn't want to be included and confirmed that Arsenal was informed about his decision to make the news public.

«We had a call from Edu last week to say that Ben didn’t want to be considered for England squads at this time,» said Southgate. «For me, that’s a great shame. He’s a player who we took to a Euros when he was at Brighton, we took him to the World Cup.

»I spoke to him post-Qatar because I was keen to pick him and there was clearly reticence on his side. There’s clearly