Aston Villa head coach Carla Ward has paid tribute to defender Sarah Mayling ahead of her side’s Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture at West Ham United this afternoon.
The 24-year-old played a huge role for Ward when the pair were at Birmingham City last season as the club successfully avoided relegation. After moving to Aston Villa over the summer, Ward quickly snapped up Mayling’s services for her new club and she is again set to be an important player for her boss this term.
Speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of this lunchtime’s trip to West Ham United, Aston Villa boss Ward paid tribute to Mayling, labelling her the most underrated player in the English top flight.
“Sarah Mayling is a wonderful, wonderful individual;” Ward told FAWSL Full-Time. “She’s a great player, she’s an unbelievable professional and I keep telling everyone that she is the most underrated player in the WSL. I probably need to stop talking about her because sooner or later, one of the big clubs are going to come after her, we want to keep hold of her.
“Ultimately, you sit and watch her some days in training and she conducts herself so well. If you are a young girl growing up and you are watching Sarah Mayling, she’s not a bad person to watch. She is the first person to turn up on the training pitch and the last to leave the training pitch, she is a consistent eight or nine out of 10 week in, week out, we very rarely see a dip in her form. She is a pleasure to work with, she really is.”
Aston Villa have a solid academy production line and Ward went on to say that Mayling, along with many other experienced members of the squad, are great role models for the stars of tomorrow.
She added “We have got a lot of role models in the first team now, we have a number of exceptional individuals. We have brought some experienced players in who are really helping the youngsters but I think for me, if you watch Sarah Mayling, she epitomises the word professional, she is outstanding, she really is.
“Like I say, we have a lot of senior players now who can really help the youngsters and that is vitally important.”
The Barclays FA Women’s Super League fixture between West Ham United and Aston Villa kicks-off at 11.30am and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League.
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