Declan Rice says he hopes Arsenal team-mate Ben White will reconsider his decision to not play for England.
England boss Gareth Southgate revealed in a recent press conference that White decided to make himself unavailable for selection, with Arsenal’s sporting director Edu contacting FA technical director John McDermott to inform him of White’s decision not to play.
White was involved in England’s squad at the World Cup in Qatar but left early due to personal reasons. He has earned four caps between 2021 and 2022 and since his exit from Qatar, he has not played for England since.
Despite being in fine form for Premier League leaders Arsenal, White has refused to be included in the squad again for the March friendlies even though he would be high in the pecking order for selection at right-back.
Rice, who is set to captain England against Belgium tomorrow, said: “Obviously, Ben, if you know him as a person and as a player like I do, he’s such a good guy. He’s such a good guy and he’s an unbelievable footballer.
“Gareth, dealt with it this week, spoke about it. We’ve obviously not been going into the training grounds, so I haven’t spoken to Ben on a one-to-one level about it.”
“It’s hard to know, really, what’s going on. Ben made this decision. Obviously he doesn’t want to play for England at this moment in time.
“Gareth has had a conversation with him about it and there’s not much else I can really say to him.
“Playing for England is the greatest honour you could ever have. So hopefully, with the quality that he has and the quality he can bring to this side, we can get him back in.”
