After losing several key footballers in the women’s set-up — Manchester United will be forced to rebuild their entire team this summer, writes Olivia Hughes.
Three important players have already left the Manchester United Women’s team line-up just three weeks into the summer transfer window.
Mary Earps, Katie Zelem and Lucia Garcia — all who regularly featured in Marc Skinner’s starting XI last season — have confirmed their departure from the Red Devils.
The three big names follow the departure of pivotal pair Alessia Russo and Ona Battle who left last summer.
Manchester United will now be rebuilding their entire team this summer.
The Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper, Mary Earps, has finally announced her departure from the Red Devils after a year of speculation on whether she would remain at the club after her contract ended.
Earps is heading to Paris Saint-Germain who finished second in the The Première Ligue Division 1 last year.
Earps said in a heart-felt message on her instagram that she felt the club was “about to undergo a period of transition” which she felt didn’t align with the timing of where she was at in her career.
It has been no secret that both the men and women’s team are facing a complete restructure after Sir Jim Ratcliffe purchased the club from Glazers.
However these changes have left the women’s team disadvantaged, after being told they must use a portable training facility to make way for the men’s team.
Or as Ratcliffe put it, the ‘to make way for the first team’ despite Manchester United Women’s team arguably also being regarded as the ‘first team’.
This could perhaps explain why Earps chose to exit the club at this time.
A move to worsen facilities would potentially be detrimental to her development and possibly not keep her training at the competitive level needed to remain the best goalkeeper in the women’s game.
Earps’ contract will run until June 2026 with PSG.
After 161 games and 32 goals, Manchester United’s skipper Katie Zelem also announced she is leaving Manchester United.
Zelem spent her youth career in the Manchester United academy and joined the senior team for the inaugural season in the 2018 Championship.
After the departure of Alex Greenwood, Zelem captained the Red Devils since the 2019/20 season.
It is unclear where Zelem will be playing after the summer.
Spanish forward Lucia Garcia also announced her departure from Manchester United at the end of June.
The world cup winner will head to Mexico to play in the Liga MX Femenil side C.F. Monterrey.
Garcia joined the club in 2022 and scored two of the four goals that saw Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspurs in the 2024 FA Cup Final, taking home the trophy for the first time.
England International player Nikita Paris will also be out of contract this season.
Notably, mega star Ella Toone has been linked to talks with Barcelona this summer, but her contract does not run out until 2026.
This means that the Spanish team would likely have to pay a hefty fee to buy her out of her contract.
Emerging star Grace Clinton is also of potential interest to other clubs, after spending the season on loan at Tottenham Hotspurs.
Spurs manager Robert Vilahamn has made it clear he wants to keep the midfielder, but United can ill-afford to let such talent go easily after Clinton’s stellar 2023/24 season.
Earlier, United confirmed a permanent signing of Melvine Malard from French team Olympique Lyonnais.
Malard has spent the last season with the Red Devils and scored seven goals for the club in 29 appearances.
United have also announced the signing of Dutch international Dominique Janssen from VfL Wolfsburg.
Having previously played with Arsenal, Janssen said to the Manchester United’s media team that she is “delighted to be at such a big club”.
She said: “I cannot wait to return to the English league and create new winning moments with this talented Manchester United team.”
Gabby George and Emma Watson are likely to see their return to the pitch early this season for the Red Devils after both suffering with ACL injuries last year which ruled them out for the majority of last season.
With two months to go until the summer transfer window closes, will Manchester United sign any big players to fill the void of losing such quality footballers from their squad, time will tell.
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