This time last year, then-England coach Gareth Southgate shared that Edu Gaspar, at the time Arsenal 's sporting director, had called the Football Association technical director John McDermott to say that White did not wish to receive consideration for selection. The defender has not played for England since leaving the 2022 World Cup midway through the tournament for what the FA described as "personal reasons".
Tuchel, though, said during a press conference after naming his first England squad that White "wants to be back" in the national team and "absolutely [did] not" decline a call-up this month. He explained that the omission was because "I just think it's a bit too early given the seriousness of the injury he had."
Mikel Arteta, when asked on Friday about the controversy surrounding White's future return to the squad during his pre-match press conference, said: "It's just opinion." However, the Arsenal head coach did expand on that initial response.
"I can tell you because I was very involved in the moment that that happened, and I know how Ben felt, and that was for me very, very clear the reason why he made that decision, how he was feeling about it and how he was struggling," Arteta said.
"It certainly wasn't about [turning his back on his country]. It was about being the opposite, just facing the situation and saying, 'I cannot handle it now, and I am not the best person to represent the country the way I feel right now'. So, for me, it was completely the opposite.
"I think not a lot of people would do it. What a lot of people would do is hide in that context, in that environment and let time go, and nobody talks about it. What he did, in my opinion, was very brave, and not a lot of people would have done it."
Addressing a follow-up question about comments made by Stuart Pearce on talkSPORT earlier on Friday that intimated White had let Southgate down, Arteta said: "From what I understand, the reasons, it wasn't about letting somebody down.
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