ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate revealed he omitted Arsenal ace Ben White because of too many other elite options.
Southgate announced his team for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Italy and Ukraine but left White out despite his prolific role in the Gunners' Premier League title bid.
The centre-back has been filling in at right-back for Mikel Arteta's side but the England boss preferred Eric Dier, Marc Guehi, Reece James, Harry Maguire, John Stones, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker.
The 52-year-old tactician insists Walker, Trippier and James are ahead of him as well as Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was also left out.
Southgate said: "With Ben, it is similar for Ben and Trent.
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"We have players ahead of those two and we are blessed with talent.
"Kyle and Tripps [Trippier] were the ones who played during the World Cup and have been consistent while Reece has come back."
This comes three months after White suddenly left England's 2022 World Cup camp early.
The FA initially released a statement claiming the 25-year-old departed from Qatar before the Last-16 encounter against Senegal due to "personal reasons".
However, reports later suggested the Arsenal ace had a bust-up with England assistant manager Steve Holland.
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Reports also claimed White became unhappy and struggled to mix with his team-mates.
Southgate, though, refused to address the speculation in December as he didn't want to risk giving it any "credibility".
He said: "What I've been shown was alleged and there was another word that was used.
"I think by commenting on the story I could be giving it any form of credibility, really.
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"We explained why Ben left the camp and I think it's important that that is respected, really."