Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer ‘totally agree’ on the one thing England coach Gareth Southgate must do with a ‘brilliant’ Arsenal ace after naming his team for Euro 2024.
The FA shared the Three Lions’ provisional 33-man side for this summer’s UEFA tournament on Tuesday. Southgate will whittle the squad down to a final 26-man squad before midnight on June 7. England will submit their final squad for Euro 2024 after the friendly with Iceland.
Southgate has included three Arsenal players in his provisional plans for the 17th edition of the European Championship, too. Goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, midfielder Declan Rice and winger Bukayo Saka made the cut. But Ben White and Eddie Nketiah will now stay at home.
Gary Lineker ‘hopes’ England boss Gareth Southgate ‘makes peace’ with Ben White
Yet Lineker and Shearer ‘totally agree’ that Southgate made a mistake by not clearing the air with White regarding the Arsenal star’s reluctance to play for England. The 26-year-old put his international career on hold in March by making himself unavailable to Southgate to use.
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Southgate considered recalling White for England’s friendlies in March having not called him up since the 2022 World Cup. He chose to snub the right-back for five teams after White left Qatar early. But Lineker feels Southgate should have tried again given what White could add.
“I think Ben White’s had an absolutely brilliant season,” Lineker told Shearer on The Rest Is Football. “He’s a superb player. I just hope and wish there was a way that Gareth Southgate could make his peace with him and get him out there.
“Obviously, with the injuries that England have got at the moment – particularly in the full-back positions – I suspect he could play anywhere across the back four because he was a central defender, of course.
“I think he would be a really good addition. I understand it was a fallout with the No2 [coach] but, I mean, come on!”
Alan Shearer thinks it is ‘such a shame’ Arsenal star Ben White will not go to Euro 2024
Shearer believes it is ‘such a shame’ that Southgate opted against trying to clear the air with White before omitting the Arsenal ace from England’s provisional Euro 2024 side. Southgate confirmed in a blunt reply that, ‘No’, he did not contact White to discuss his England career.
But Southgate leaving White out displeases Shearer, who replied to Lineker: “Such a shame. You’ve got a Euros tournament [and] you’ve had a season like Ben White has had and he’s not going to be in that England squad? It’s just such a shame, come on guys!
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“Whatever it is, whatever the reason, you’ve got to sit down and clear the air and say, ‘Let’s just sort this out for the sake of playing for our country’.
“They’ve got an unbelievable chance of winning the Euros, yet he’s not going to play a part in that after the season he’s had. What a mess. What a shame.”
Why did Ben White make himself unavailable for Gareth Southgate’s England?
Linker told Shearer that ‘I totally agree’ White and Southgate should have held clear-the-air talks before England announced their provisional team for Euro 2024. But Southgate is still choosing to side with his assistant, Steve Holland, over recalling White to the England camp.
Reports by The Telegraph in March noted that White elected to withdraw from England duty as an ongoing consequence of his fallout with Holland from the World Cup. The four-cap ace focused on Arsenal, for whom he offered four goals and five assists in 51 outings in 2023/24.
Holland frustrated him after hinting that White was not interested in football enough to care or know how Arsenal had performed over the previous season. The coach made the remark in front of other players, as well. Southgate has since stuck with Holland and left White out.