Ben White has flown home and left England’s World Cup training base.
The Arsenal defender is not expected to return to Qatar to rejoin the squad after being given permission to leave for “personal reasons.” White missed training this week as the Football Association said he was ill and that was why he missed the session.
England had named a 26 man squad and White had played no part so far and the return to fitness of Kyle Walker has eased concerns over having enough cover in defence. White had been playing with a hip injury and making the squad was a major boost for him but now this will be a big disappointment.
An FA statement said: “ Ben White has left England’s training base in Al Wakrah and returned home for personal reasons.
“The Arsenal defender is not expected to return to the squad for the remainder of the tournament. We ask that the player’s privacy is respected at this moment in time.”
Arsenal shared the FA’s statement on their social media channels, along with the caption “We’re all with you, Ben”.
White was at his second major tournament with England, having been included in the squad that reached last summer’s European Championship final. The £50million defender did not make an appearance during the tournament and has only won two caps since, taking his overall tally to four.
No replacements can be made at this stage of the World Cup.
England’s reward for topping Group B is a last-16 tie with Senegal on Sunday night.
Phil Foden, who started and scored in the 3-0 win over Wales, said on Tuesday night: “There’s no easy game, you can see that by the group how tough USA was and Iran as well going on to beat Wales, it just goes to show there are no easy games.
“We don’t really know them too much, we just have to sit down and review them and be ready for the game.”
