Aston Villa and England star Rachel Daly can play anywhere due to her "unbelievable talent" according to her club manager Carla Ward.
Daly is the joint top goalscorer in the Women's Super League this season, hitting eight goals to propel Villa into the top half. She is a regular in Sarina Wiegman's England squad but there has been plenty of debate over where she should be used for the national side.
Daly was deployed at left-back throughout the Lionesses' successful Euros campaign, despite spending most of her club career as a forward. And Wiegman did opt to play Daly as England's central striker in their final game of the year, a 1-1 draw with Norway in which the 31-year-old opened the scoring with a superb header.
Amidst plenty of public discussion about her best position, Daly herself said she would play "wherever the manager needs her" during the last international break. And Villa manager Ward has no concerns over the issue, stating that Daly can play anywhere and that her form as a forward is no surprise.
"She (Daly) has scored goals for years," Ward told Sky Sports. "She scored goals for Houston Dash and is an unbelievable talent.
"She knows where the back of the net is and has incredible movement. I think you can play her anywhere. And we've seen that for England, where she's played right-back, left-back or coming in off the left or down the middle (up-front).
"So she is a very, very talented individual. She's scored eight goals already, ten in all competitions so we are absolutely delighted with her."
It remains to be seen where Wiegman will use Daly in the run-up to next summer's Women's World Cup, although the Villa manager has consistently used her as a forward since signing her in August. In fact, Ward even stated she should play there prior to the Euros.
This week Daly won the Barclays Player of the Month award for November after another red-hot month in front of goal. The Villa no. 9 scored the winner against Liverpool, before notching a superb hat-trick against Reading to give her four league goals last month.
And regardless of which position she plays, her coach was also keen to emphasise the impact of Daly off the pitch.
"She (Daly) is a fiery character as well," added Ward. "And she is a winner most importantly, which we love. That is something that we needed to add to our group.
"She is great with the youngsters in the squad as well. They all look up to her, she's got her little fan club!
"I think she is a major influence on the young girls, they all want to follow in her footsteps and ask for advice which is great."
Villa host Arsenal at Villa Park this weekend looking to tighten their grip on fifth place after a defeat at Manchester United last week. And after a positive start to the season Ward is keen to ensure her side don't settle for only a small improvement on last year.
"We finished ninth last season, so an improvement is eighth", stated Ward. "Let's be honest of course want to finish higher than that.
"I don't want to put additional pressure on anyone here. But what I would say is the club is ambitious, the players are ambitious.
"The ambitions are greater than just to be a little bit better (than last season), we want to close the gap on the top four."
NEW! Our Year: European Champions 2022 - The Official England Winners Book
With a foreword by England manager Sarina Wiegman, this is the only official book of the historic triumph, reliving every kick of a thrilling tournament and telling the stories of the players who made it all happen.
Order from https://reachsportshop.com/book/our-year-european-champion-2022/
