Sarina Wiegman said Chloe Kelly’s lack of action for Manchester City was concerning after including the forward in the England squad to play friendlies against USA and Switzerland.
Last month, the manager said the scorer of England’s extra-time winner in the Euro 2022 final had earned “enough credit” that merited her selection for the friendly defeat by Germany and win over South Africa.
Kelly has started once in the WSL this season and did not make the XI at Chelsea last Saturday despite the absence of Lauren Hemp, who is out of the England squad after knee surgery. Kelly made her fourth league substitute appearance in that match and Wiegman was asked when the 26-year-old’s lack of minutes at City would become a problem.
“It’s a concern right now already,” she said. “It’s a hard situation. We have to look at what’s available in our squad. We have some injuries up front: Lauren Hemp, Lauren James. Chloe knows that she is not in the best position with her club at the moment. But [she has] enough credit to bring her in, related to the whole team and availability of players.”
The Manchester United midfielder Ella Toone has joined Hemp in being ruled out of the 24-player squad for back-to-back friendlies. City said Hemp would “return to the City Football Academy to work closely with the club’s medical team on her rehabilitation” after successful surgery. The winger has been in fine form this season, creating 26 chances in seven WSL games, and is a big miss for Wiegman and Gareth Taylor.
Wiegman confirmed it was not an anterior cruciate ligament injury and it is understood not to be season-ending, but no timescale has been put on Hemp’s return.
Marc Skinner, Manchester United’s head coach, said Toone, who had made 96 consecutive WSL starts before Sunday, picked up an injury in training last week. “She’ll miss the international window, where we’ll keep assessing her, and then we’ll see whether she’s back for the block of three games after that,” he said.
Niamh Charles, James and Lucy Parker join Hemp and Toone on the England injury list. Leicester’s Ruby Mace, a defender or midfielder, and the Manchester City midfielder Laura Blindkilde Brown have received their first senior international call-ups.
“They’re young players, very talented players,” said Wiegman. “For Laura, the competition at Man City is very high, but she gets some minutes. They’ve also both done very well with the under-23s and this is also an opportunity to bring them in, see them in our environment. I hope they start competing straight away.”
England play the Emma Hayes-led USA on Saturday 30 November at Wembley before welcoming the Euro 2025 hosts Switzerland to Bramall Lane the following Tuesday for their final fixtures of 2024.
Hayes is bringing 15 of the 22-player squad that secured Olympic gold in July but will be without the potent front three of Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson, who have nagging injuries.
Wiegman said: “The USA is still a very, very top-level team. I saw that they miss some players, so do we. It’s part of the year and part of football too, that sometimes you have injuries and then other players get opportunities to play. They still have a very decent team and squad and we can see a very competitive game.”
Wiegman said of the new rivalry with Hayes, with whom she would consult extensively when Hayes was manager of Chelsea: “We had a collaboration, which went really well. She did an amazing job at Chelsea but now going into that environment in USA and winning a gold medal, it’s incredible what she’s done; really, really impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing her, meeting her, and to play the USA.”
