March 27 (Reuters) - England manager Thomas Tuchel said Ben White deserves another chance with the national team after the Arsenal defender returned to the squad for the first time in more than three years for World Cup warm-ups against Uruguay and Japan.
White left the 2022 World Cup camp in Qatar early for personal reasons and later made himself unavailable for the remainder of Gareth Southgate’s tenure, which ended after Euro 2024.
"First of all, I think everyone deserves a second chance," Tuchel told reporters on Thursday ahead of the Uruguay match.
"Second, I don't know exactly what happened. I was also not 100% interested because I wanted to open a new page and a new book and a new opportunity.
"Once I asked Ben if he would be ready to play for me and for England, he straightaway, without hesitation, said he would love to come back and was desperate to come back."
Tuchel said he expects White to be supported by the crowd but noted the defender may still need to smooth things over inside the dressing room.
"I think it's necessary he clears the air with his teammates and I think he will with players who come back who were in the World Cup together with him," the German said.
"Then we go from there. Let's see how it goes and let's see how he feels, if he feels as comfortable and as confident as he thought he would."
England host Uruguay at Wembley later on Friday before facing Japan at the same venue four days later as part of their preparations for the June 11 to July 19 World Cup in North America.
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
