London (AFP) – Gareth Southgate has chosen Ben White to replace the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold in England’s Euro 2020 squad after an impressive performance in the 1-0 win over Romania.
The 23-year-old Brighton central defender made his international debut in the 1-0 friendly win over Austria last week and backed that up in Sunday’s match against the Romanians.
Alexander-Arnold was ruled out after suffering a thigh injury in the Austria match “and Southgate took his time to decide which of his standby players would come in.
White had an outstanding season for Brighton — his first in the Premier League — after being pivotal to Leeds United’s promotion from the Championship while on loan in the 2019/20 campaign.
Southgate has opted for a central defender with Manchester United captain Harry Maguire battling to recover from an ankle injury.
Everton defender Ben Godfrey and Southampton captain James Ward-Prowse were other options who both started the Romania game, while Jesse Lingard and Ollie Watkins were also on the standby list, but will now return home.
England kick-off their Euro 2020 campaign on Sunday at Wembley against Croatia, who beat them in the 2018 World Cup semi-finals.
