LONDON, United Kingdom, Dec 12 – Ben White returned to training with his Arsenal teammates in Dubai having left England’s World Cup squad midway through the tournament.
The English Football Association said the centre-back had left for “personal reasons”, but a newspaper this week claimed that White’s departure followed a row with assistant manager Steve Holland.
White was not involved in any of the Three Lions’ three group games before leaving the camp in Qatar.
“Ben left for personal reasons. We made that very clear and I think especially in this day and age it is very important that a situation like that is respected,” said England boss Gareth Southgate on the eve of his side’s quarter-final defeat to France on Saturday.
White had been given some time off by Arsenal before joining his teammates for a mid-season training camp ahead of the resumption of the Premier League on December 26.
