EX-PREMIER LEAGUE STAR COMPARES HIS SITUATION TO BEN WHITE AFTER ARSENAL STAR’S ENGLAND SNUB

Ex-Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor has opened up about his time with the England squad - revealing he didn't enjoy his time on international duty.

While Agbonlahor withdrew from several England call-ups due to injuries, he compares his situation to that of Arsenal's Ben White, who does not want to be considered for selection. Agbonlahor, now 37, was awarded three England caps between 2008 and 2009, with his last senior squad call-up occurring in 2011.

The retired forward, who received glowing reviews from former England captain John Terry for his solid performance against Germany in a friendly match, never truly found a stable position within the national side, reports Football London.

While speaking on the Ben Heath Podcast on Tuesday (May 7), the Villa legend discussed his international career, and expressed feeling somewhat unlucky at having played in an era filled with world-class English forwards.

"In that era I played in, you had so many good strikers, we're talking about [Wayne] Rooney, Michael Owen into the last bit of his career, [Emile] Heskey was a player that did very well for England and Capello really liked playing Emile and he did fantastic," he explained.

"You had [Peter] Crouchy, [Jermain] Defoe, and Darren Bent who was scoring goals and [Carlton] Cole doing well." Throughout his career, which was solely spent at Villa, Agbonlahor confessed that he would regularly opt out of the England squad if he was experiencing an injury that could impact his club performance.

"I didn't enjoy going away with England, say if I had a calf injury where maybe it wasn't super bad but it was something that could affect you for the next [Aston] Villa game," he commented. "I would pull out of England squads because I think I was into 13 to 16 England squads but I pulled out of quite a few because I was more thinking 'am I gonna play'," he further explained.

He drew parallels between his international situation and Arsenal's White who recently opted out of being called up to England back in March, with the 26-year-old facing stiff competition at right-back from the likes of Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kieran Trippier and Reece James, when fit.

"Similar to maybe Ben White, I was a bit like 'why am I staying here for 10 days at the Grove hotel in Watford when I can be back at Villa getting treatment and getting ready for the game'". The defender has only made three appearances for England since 2021 and hasn't been involved with the team since withdrawing from the squad during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

His decision not to make himself available for the squad, despite his top form with the Gunners, left Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate disappointed, who confessed previously he doesn't understand why White doesn't want to play for England.

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"It's a great shame, he's a player I really like, a player we took to the Euros, a player I took to the World Cup. I spoke to him post-Qatar because I was keen to pick him, there was clearly reticence on his side. I don't know fully why that is, but I have to respect that," Southgate stated.

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2024-05-09T10:11:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd