Ben White's journey to the England squad

Ben White admits he was surprised to hear from manager Gareth Southgate that he wanted him in his England squad.

But it is a deserved reward for a player who had to overcame the disappointment of being let go by Southampton before preparing for the rigours of the Premier League with loan spells at three levels of the English game.

His call-up comes on the back of a stellar debut Premier League campaign for the 23-year-old, who has played more minutes (3195) than any Albion player this season.

White’s academy career began on the south coast, but with Premier League rivals Southampton. At 16, Ben was released by the Saints, and was snapped up by the Albion academy in 2014.

Albion academy manager John Morling said, "We watched him play for Southampton at under-16 level and he was on a list of players who we offer trials and potential deals to if they don't get offered a scholarship by their previous club so Ben came in on trial. We liked him already, but that cemented our opinion."

He progressed through the Under-18s and up to the Under-23s – alongside Robert Sanchez – before making his full debut for the club in the EFL Cup in August 2016, a 4-0 first round win over Colchester United. He made a second appearance in the next round as Albion dispatched Oxford United 4-2.

The 2017-18 campaign gave him fantastic grounding in the men’s game, as he joined League Two Newport County.

Newport boss Michael Flynn said, “He’s the best loan that the club has ever had, I am certain of that. I said he would go onto play at the top level and to play for England, which he will. He's an exceptional lad.

“I had to convince Ben to come because there were a lot of clubs in for him, but thankfully we managed to do that and he hasn't looked back since. We were fortunate to have a player of his ability here at Newport County.

“As soon as I saw a minute of his clips I didn't really even have to go and watch him to be honest. There was a financial penalty if he didn't play a certain number of games but I said that Brighton could double that if they wanted because I knew he would play. He was that good.

“We had no worries about him technically, but how he handled League Two did impress me.

"We he had a game against Wycombe when he went through [former Albion captain] Adam El-Abd in a 50/50, he came away with the ball and then hit a 60-yard diagonal pass straight to our striker's feet. So that put everything to bed after the second or third game.”

White made 52 appearances for Newport and then climbed another rung of the EFL ladder the following year, joining League One Peterborough for the second half of the campaign when they narrowly missed out on the top six.

Then came the big one. Leeds United were heading into the 2019/20 Championship campaign having lost in the play-offs the previous season, under renowned coach Marcelo Bielsa.

He played in all 46 games as Leeds won the title and the cherry on top was a brilliant goal in the final match of the season against Charlton.

He was named Young Player of the Season and won the Yorkshire Evening Post’s award for Player of the 2019-20 Season, as well as being named in PFA’s Championship Team of the Season.

Despite interest in the centre-back’s signature from elsewhere, White committed his future to Albion in the summer of 2020 – putting pen-to-paper on a new four-year deal.

He made his Premier League debut on the opening day of the 2020/21 campaign in a 3-1 defeat to Chelsea, going on to play 36 times in the top-tier, as Albion equalled their best Premier League points return, Graham Potter demonstrated his faith in home-grown talent by giving more than 30% of minutes to Academy players.

Playing in wins over Liverpool and Manchester City, as well were among the standout moments for the young defender who now has a first senior international tournament in his sights.

STATS:

EFL appearances: 103

Senior career goals: 3

Premier League appearances: 36

Albion total appearances: 41