Ask quietly who in the England squad is irreplaceable and the likely answer you will get is Keira Walsh. Sarina Wiegman’s defensive midfielder is the increasingly not-so-secret jewel in England’s crown. It was Walsh’s pass that elicited more oohs and aahs than Ella Toone’s sumptuous finish to open the scoring in the final of the Euros against Germany last year and Walsh’s £400,000 move to Barcelona from Manchester City broke the world record for a transfer fee.
Since that move Walsh has won a treble – La Liga, the Supercopa and the Champions League – and lifted the first women’s Finalissima trophy with England. Yet four years ago she almost walked away from football, the heavy toll of the criticism she faced during the 2019 World Cup almost too much to take. Walsh had looked out of sorts in France, like the youngest of rabbits, frozen in the road, caught in the headlights of the first car they have seen.
