A gushing tribute video of Arsenal players talking about Ben White was not strategically released in order to combat the looming bombshell that he had made himself unavailable for England.
On Thursday morning, the north London club announced that the in-form 26-year-old had signed a new four-year deal that keeps him at the Emirates until 2028.
Alongside the announcement, Arsenal also put out a heartfelt – but rather unorthodox – video of White’s team-mates talking about him in glowing terms, which was titled ‘Benjamin White, as told by his team-mates’.
While seemingly innocuous enough, the video was cast in a new light when, just a few hours later, Gareth Southgate revealed that White had declined a call-up to the England national team.
Immediately fans jumped to link the two events, suggesting that Arsenal had pre-empted the news and were firmly standing behind their defender over his decision.
However, The Telegraph are reporting that was not the case, with the tribute video – and its timing – entirely coincidental.
The announcement on White’s contract, and the content that followed, was long planned for Thursday morning and was not intended to soften the blow of his England snub.
Further to that, the thinking behind the video was that White is a man of few words and does not necessarily make for the most riveting interviewee, so it was felt that his team-mates would be better placed to speak about him instead.
The mystery surrounding White’s snub continues to rumble on, though, with Southgate saying he did not know why the former Brighton man no longer wanted to play for his country.
He has not spoken to White since a conversation shortly after he left the Qatar World Cup early, saying he sensed a ‘reticence’ from him to join up even back then.
White did not inform Southgate of his decision personally, with Arsenal sporting director Edu instead informing FA technical director John McDermott of his withdrawal from selection on his behalf.
Revealing White’s decision, Southgate said: ‘He’s a player that I really like. He’s a player that we took to a Euros when he was at Brighton, a player that we took to the World Cup. I spoke to him post-Qatar because I was keen to pick him and there was clearly reticence from his side.
‘I don’t know fully why that is, but I have to respect that. I want to leave the door open for him because he’s a good player and I think he’s a player that could make a difference for England. But he’s not available to us and so the only other thing I would say is, there is no issue between us at all.’
As yet, neither Arsenal nor the FA have provided any explanation as to why White has decided not to play for England.
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