Thomas Tuchel urges England fans to give Ben White a fresh start after boos

Thomas Tuchel has urged England supporters to move on from the controversy surrounding Ben White after the Arsenal defender was booed during the 2-1 Nations League win over Croatia.

The England manager defended the 29-year-old and said he hoped fans would allow White to begin a new chapter with the national team. Tuchel, speaking after Thursday’s victory, said there was no reason to question the defender’s commitment or enthusiasm since he took charge.

White withdrew from England duty under former manager Gareth Southgate after leaving the squad during the knockout stage of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar for what he described as “personal” reasons.

Reports have suggested White had fallen out with former assistant manager Steve Holland. He returned to the England set-up under Tuchel in March, when he was booed by supporters, but subsequently missed the World Cup because of injury.

White said this week that the crowd would not have reacted in the same way if they knew the full story, although he did not want anyone to be blamed.

Despite that, he was met by further boos after coming on as a substitute against Croatia. Asked to compare White’s reception with the warmer welcome given to Croatia substitute Luka Modric, Tuchel replied with a laugh: “I didn’t hear the boos, to be honest.”

He added: “I heard the applause for Luka Modric, which is nice because he deserves it. He is a legend in football. But, honestly, I didn’t hear the boos for Ben White. I thought we had moved on from that page.”

Tuchel said he hoped the reaction would not be repeated, describing White as an important member of the squad.

“I hope it does not happen again. He is one of our players,” he said. “Since I took over, he has been very keen to join us and be with the group. He has done nothing wrong since I became responsible for the team.

“I can only judge him on what I see and what I have experienced myself. What I have seen has been at the highest level, and he can genuinely help us win football matches.

“As I said, he is part of our group. We will protect our group and make sure it is protected. He deserves to be with us and, yes, I hope we can open a new page for him.”

The boos were less intense than during the friendly matches in March, and Tuchel does not expect the response to make White withdraw from England again.

“I don’t think so, and I hope not,” he said. “He has always seemed committed, dedicated and excited to join camp and receive the call-up. He has suffered more injuries than he should have.

“He is a player of great quality. To be honest, I don’t even know exactly what happened or the deeper reasons behind the situation in which he left camp.

“Since I took over, there is no reason to question Ben White’s commitment or passion. I don’t want to think about those extreme possibilities at the moment.”

The victory secured England’s place in the Nations League quarter-finals and kept alive their hopes of finishing top of Group One, Level Three, before Sunday’s trip to face leaders Spain.

“Things cannot always be wonderful and hugely exciting,” Tuchel said. “Sometimes you simply need to be serious and determined. We did the job. We wanted to win, and we got what we wanted.”