RICE ON WHITE ABUSE - Arsenal star Rice says England boo boys have White all wrong - 'If people knew'

Declan Rice says if “people knew and understood” Ben White they would no longer boo him.

Arsenal defender White was jeered by the Wembley crowd when he came on as a substitute against Croatia and some England fans have not forgiven him for quitting the World Cup squad back in 2022.

White spoke last week about his passion for playing in an England shirt but refused to go into detail about the reasons why he flew home from Qatar.

And Rice says: “Ben has moved on from what's happened in the past, he's totally focused on playing for England. When he's been fit and available he's constantly put himself forward to play for England.

“He loves being here, it's not like he doesn't like being here, he loves playing for England, loves being around the lads.

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“If people knew and understood Ben White as a character he's not fazed by anything, he goes with the flow and he just wants to play football and for England.

“Fans are entitled to their opinion, it is what it is but he doesn't feel that way with England. He wants to come out and play his best football and enjoy himself. I think that's credit to him, coming on and playing for England and being booed is not easy but the way his character is it really helps him.

“It's not been a conversation for the team. It's so long ago now, it's nearly five years and it doesn't need to keep getting brought up. We need to look forward to the future and what Ben White is going to do in an England shirt, that's the most important thing.

“It's a pointless conversation, Ben has moved on, no-one talks about it around the dinner table, no-one speaks about it in the pool, we just play football and do what we need to do.”

Rice has revealed he will embrace the competition from Bournemouth’s “incredible” Alex Scott as the midfielder took his place last month. He says he has stiff competition to play in Arsenal’s midfield with Bruno Guimaraes as well as the likes of Martin Zubimendi, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Mikel Merino and Martin Odegaard.

Rice said: “To be honest, Alex Scott playing was incredible. The way he's been playing for Bournemouth the last two or three seasons has been remarkable.

“The way he's being spoken about is totally right because of the levels he's set for himself and I totally understand playing for England comes with competition.

“When we signed Bruno Guimaraes, when we signed Zubimendi, when we had Myles, Merino, Odegaard, you're competing with six midfielders at your club every day so for me there's nothing different throughout my whole career there's been competition. It's normal.”

Rice, 27, also says that he dreams of carrying on deep into his 30s with 33-year-old Harry Kane’s success only serving to prove that if you stay fit then anything is possible. He added: “If you look at Harry … it’s not a coincidence the season he’s had, Ballon d’Or winner, not just because of his footballing ability, just everything he does off the pitch to look after himself.

“His mindset is always right. He’s always looking forward to the game. He’s always preparing himself in the right way. He’s always in a good way in his mind and I feel like for me … you need to be obsessed with football, still. Y

“ou look at the greats that have played late into their 30s, they’re obsessed and they love the game. And H is one of them. And I see myself being one of them as well. I want to maximise my career, I want to play for as long as possible.

“I want to play at the highest level for as long as possible. Doing that comes with sacrifices at that age, doing different things – recovery, preparing well, like I said.

“And being ready for whatever comes. Me at 33, I don’t know where I’m going to be and what I’m going to be doing but for sure I hope I’m still at the top level, competing and playing really well.”