Thomas Tuchel reaches out to Arsenal star over his England future

Thomas Tuchel has held talks with Arsenal defender Ben White over his international future ahead of the new England manager’s first games in charge. It has been a long wait for the German to take charge of the Three Lions team for the first time after being appointed in October.

England host Albania and Latvia in March in World Cup qualifiers and Tuchel has been gaining clarity on who he can and cannot call up. White has four England caps but has not played for his country since March 2022, picked for the World Cup squad in Qatar that year but flying home after the group stage with ‘personal reasons’ cited.

Reports suggested White’s exit from the international scene was due to him falling out with Gareth Southgate’s assistant Steve Holland. Southgate said that he had attempted to call up White since the Qatar World Cup but was informed that the Arsenal man was not available for selection.

However, Tuchel hopes that situation has changed and The Sun reports that talks have been held between the former Chelsea manager and the current Three Lions boss. The result of those talks is not yet clear, while Arsenal could also be reluctant to see White head off on international duty as he has only just returned from a lengthy knee injury.

The 27-year-old came off the bench in the Gunners’ defeat to West Ham at the weekend, in his first Premier League outing since November. Tuchel did make it clear when he was appointed that he intended to speak to White and offer him a clean slate under new management.

‘I will reach out to him,’ said the former Bayern Munich boss. ‘It should be a clean start and a clear narrative. ‘I will be in the stadiums from January. I will also not distract the players and they should just know, “OK, the boss is there from January”.’.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta also has expressed that he hopes White returns to the international fold, but only if the player really wants to. ‘As manager I want the best for him, personally and professionally, and he really needs to feel it,’ said the Spaniard last year.

‘Hopefully he’s prepared to represent his country in the best way possible one day. That would be the best option for everybody. But that’s completely up to him.’. White will first be focussing on getting back to match fitness after playing the last few minutes of the game against West Ham.

He will hope to return to the starting XI in the coming games, with Arsenal’s next outing a trip to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night. Then comes a return to Champions League action with the away leg of their last 16 tie against PSV on 4 March. Arrow MORE: Chelsea urged to sign former Arsenal star to solve ‘massive problem’.