Former England goalkeeper Ben Foster has suggested "something has gone on" after seeing Gareth Southgate leave Ben White out of his international squad.
White has been a regular this season for table-toppers Arsenal after moving from centre-back to right-back. There has been no place for the former Brighton man in the squad for the upcoming games with Italy and Ukraine, though, as England begin their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker and Reece James are all in the squad as right-back options, with White made to wait. The omission comes after the Arsenal man left England's World Cup squad early, and Foster has praised the defender when addressing Southgate's choices.
"Something has gone on there for sure," Foster said on his YouTube channel. "Every week he is doing it now. He's getting involved in goals. He's getting involved in assists for fun. He's playing really, really well. Arsenal are on fire and these are the sort of players that, when you are naming your England squad, you should be picking these players in form.'
"Obviously whatever happened in the World Cup happened - people aren't really privy to any of this information. I've got no scoop on this, I've been trying to find out. But there's definitely something gone on there because that's not right.
"When he's selecting the ones that haven't been playing week in, week out, [ Harry Maguire ] and those sort of players. It just screams of a little bit of a fall out."
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White joined up with the Arsenal squad during their mid-season break, having left the England camp early, and posted the short message "we back baby" upon linking up with his club colleagues. Southgate was quizzed on the matter out in Qatar, but was clear in his response to allegations of a bust-up between the defender and a member of the coaching staff.
"What I’ve been shown was alleged and there was another word that was used [in the article]," the manager said. I think by commenting on the story I could be giving it any form of credibility, really. We explained why Ben left the camp and I think it’s important that that is respected, really."
England will play twice in the coming days, away to Italy in Naples and then at home to Ukraine. Two teams will qualify from the group, which also includes North Macedonia and Malta, with the European Championships themselves taking place in Germany from 14 June.
White's club side Arsenal, meanwhile, will return to action on April 1 against Leeds United. The defender picked up another assist in the most recent game, a 4-1 victory over Crystal Palace.
