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When Gareth Southgate revealed in March last year that Ben White had made himself unavailable for England selection, most people were perplexed.
How could one of the nation’s most dependable defenders turn down such an honour?
White had not featured for his country since leaving England’s World Cup squad in Qatar in November 2022 for ‘personal reasons’ — a high-profile exit said to be influenced by a disagreement with Southgate's assistant Steve Holland.
Now, nearly 18 months on from White's snubbing of England, the dynamic has flipped. The right back, once a guaranteed starter at Arsenal, has become a peripheral figure, fighting to regain form and fitness after knee surgery and watching others take his place for both club and country.
The 28-year-old has started just one of the Gunners’ nine league matches this season. His struggles were most visible during their Champions League tie against Olympiacos earlier this month — a subdued 58-minute display that lacked the assertive runs, crisp overlaps, and composure that once defined his game.
Tonight's Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Brighton, White's former club, presents the full back with a rare chance to showcase his abilities. But it does lead to the question: what has happened to a player who was once undroppable?
Arsenal's £50million full back Ben White has found starts hard to come by of late
'When Ben is at the level that he can show, he's a top player for us,' says his manager Mikel Arteta. 'He's a player that gives us a different threat on that flank'
White quickly became a regular starter under Mikel Arteta following his £50million move from Brighton in July 2021, forming a key part of the defence and linking cleverly with Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard in attack as the Gunners mounted consecutive title challenges.
In his first season, he started 32 Premier League games. In the 2022-23 season, it was 36 of Arsenal’s 38 matches. Then in the 2023-24 campaign, the defender made 35 league starts.
At his best, White’s understanding with Saka was one of Arsenal’s defining partnerships: his overlaps drew markers, his underlapping runs created passing lanes and his calmness in possession anchored the right flank. That chemistry has been harder to rediscover since his return.
Those pesky dark arts, such as trying to undo Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario's glove on a set-piece, were also part of the package.
The rise and rise of Jurrien Timber, who is arguably the league’s best full back, has played a part in White's fall from grace. The Dutchman is both defensively astute and offers much in the final third, while also putting in strong performances week in, week out. He would threaten the place of many a defender across the country.
Yet, Daily Mail Sport understands that White’s predicament centres more on his return to fitness after surgery. He has had to deal with setbacks in his recovery following arthroscopic knee surgery last November — a ‘minor’ procedure by definition, but one that has proven troublesome for White.
The operation sidelined him for around three months, costing him 21 matches between November 2024 and February this year. For a player who had missed just seven league fixtures across his first three seasons at Arsenal, it represented an unfamiliar interruption to his rhythm.
But the source of his current struggles arguably began in the 2023-24 campaign. White bravely soldiered on despite carrying a knee problem, often managing discomfort to continue playing. It later caused him to miss games in September and October last year, before finally proceeding with knee surgery the following month.
White struck up a great relationship on the pitch with Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka down Arsenal's right-hand side
But he has struggled with injury over the last 18 months, having knee surgery last November
A leading knee specialist who has worked on professional sportsmen, tells Daily Mail Sport that such delays can be costly.
‘If it’s not picked up early enough, you can do more damage,’ the surgeon explains. ‘Sometimes the problem becomes harder to fix if you leave it longer. If there’s a ligament issue and you continue playing, it can trigger another injury — then you start damaging other structures in the knee.
‘Return to play depends on many factors: the severity of the initial problem, the quality of surgery, and especially the rehabilitation. The rehab is almost 50 per cent of the treatment.’
When Daily Mail Sport asked whether there’s any regrets over White not having surgery sooner, Arteta said: ‘I don't know, that's more for the medical staff. But obviously we want to protect our players. We're never going to expose players knowing that we are going to damage them for the future.
‘Ben will play with anything (injury-wise). You really have to scratch and ask him, “Are you OK, are you OK?” because he won't tell you because he wants to play every game, which is great.
‘But with that injury, it didn't allow him to have that consistency and hopefully now he's going to get that rhythm because the team needs him.’
That recovery process — and how soon a player can truly get back to their peak — is rarely linear.
‘I warn some patients they may never get back to 100 per cent,’ the surgeon explains. ‘It just doesn’t work like that — it’s the human body. There’s only so much we can do. Some people just have more of an inflammatory response after trauma or surgery.
White has made himself unavailable for England selection since withdrawing from the World Cup squad in Qatar in 2022
White with fellow defender Myles Lewis-Skelly at Arsenal's training ground earlier this month
‘And therefore, they just take longer. It's just like everything in life, we all respond differently to different stimuli. And some are able to just get on with it and some don't. And although we can identify lots of causes, there's a group of unknowns, I would say, that we don't fully understand.’
That realism helps frame White’s current form. Fit enough to feature, yes — but still a few crucial percentage points short of full fitness. Those small differences, the half-step lost or hesitation in a duel, can separate a dependable starter from one fighting for minutes.
White’s return has come amid a defensive reshuffle at Arsenal. Timber’s ascent and summer signings, such as Cristhian Mosquera, have deepened Arteta’s options, while William Saliba and Gabriel remain the cornerstone pairing at centre back.
Once prized for his versatility — able to play both centrally and at right back — White now finds himself struggling to play any part across the backline.
Sources close to the player stress that he remains professional and committed, focusing on regaining sharpness rather than rushing. They say he has suffered setbacks in his rehabilitation this season which has slowed down his full return, and that the player is still to reach full fitness.
Those who’ve worked with him describe a footballer driven to compete and a good character to have around the team. Wednesday’s game against Brighton is an important one for the player in a campaign where opportunities look like they may be hard to come by.
On whether White, whose comments on not watching football in his free time earlier in his career attracted much attention, could make Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad this summer, Arteta added: ‘Yeah, there's still a lot of months to go and in football everything can change one way or the other.
‘If Ben wants to do that, if Thomas believes he's the right player to do so, I'm so happy for him. He will have here a lot of minutes, a lot of opportunities and obviously his background (reflects) in the best possible way to give him the chance to be there.
The outstanding Jurrien Timber has taken White's position at full back
But White could get his chance against his old club Brighton in the League Cup on Wednesday night
‘When Ben is at the level that he can show, he's a top player for us, a player that drives the team in a different way, and gives us a different threat on that flank.’
Arteta still values White's attitude, but competition for a defensive place at Arsenal has never been fiercer. White’s challenge now is to rebuild confidence — in his body and in his undoubted ability.
Eighteen months ago, he could turn down England and still be undroppable. Today, he faces a fight to get back to being Arsenal's first-choice right back.
For a player defined by quiet resilience, this may yet be his biggest test.
