Ben White has been recalled to the England squad by Thomas Tuchel for the Wembley friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, ending his partly self-imposed exile. The Arsenal right-back has not been involved in the setup since he left camp during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for personal reasons. He made himself unavailable for the remainder of Gareth Southgate’s tenure.
Tuchel said last March, before he named his first England squad, that White “wants to be back,” although he did not pick him then as the player had only just returned after a serious knee injury.
White has struggled for regular football at Arsenal this season, starting only five Premier League games. But Tuchel has turned to him after one of his initial selections for this window – Jarell Quansah – was forced to withdraw. The Bayer Leverkusen player is a centre-half by trade but he made his debut at right-back in England’s most recent game – the 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Albania in Tirana last November.
Tuchel is without his first-choice right-back Reece James, who has a hamstring injury, and he chose not to recall Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold. His other options in the position are Tino Livramento, who is back in the squad, and Djed Spence. White has four England caps, the last of which came against Côte d’Ivoire in March 2022.
Tuchel has also called up Newcastle’s Harvey Barnes, as a replacement for Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze, who has withdrawn with a calf problem. Barnes is his club’s second top scorer this season with 14 goals in all competitions – three behind Anthony Gordon. Barnes won his only England cap under Southgate as a substitute against Wales in October 2020. Scotland had been hoping to lure the winger for their World Cup squad.
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England host Uruguay on Friday, followed by Japan on Tuesday at Wembley.
