England head coach Sarina Wiegman says that she has seen an improvement in Manchester United midfielder Katie Zelem but the player faces strong competition for a place in the Lionesses midfield.
The 26-year-old has again been selected in the England squad by Wiegman ahead of the nation’s FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualifiers against North Macedonia and Northern Ireland next month. Zelem has been a regular in the squad since Wiegman was appointed England head coach in September.
Zelem was the only England player not to feature in February’s Arnold Clark Cup success but head coach Wiegman says that she has seen an improvement in the midfielder, although she does face strong competition for a place in the team.
“For Manchester United, Katie is a very important player,” Wiegman told FAWSL Full-Time. “She has been in the squad with us since last September.
“She’s a good player but the competition in the squad is really high. She has been competing for a place but I have opted to play other players. If I look at her development, she is improving, she is aware of things, she is working really hard and she is doing a great job both at Manchester United and in our team too.
“At the moment, I opt to play other players because they are winning the competition for their places.”
Wiegman has been very consistent in her squad selections since becoming England boss. She went on to suggest that her final selection for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 is likely to come from the pool of players that she has selected so far plus potentially one or two players who are battling back from long term injuries.
She said “As you know, we have used a group of around 26-27 players throughout this season so it is most likely that if they keep performing and stay fit, that might be the group – some other players who are still recovering might also come back.
“It is all about staying fit, keep performing and keep showing what they are capable of. It doesn’t mean that the door is closed for any other player but if a new player was to come in now, we would probably have made the wrong decisions earlier.”
England face North Macedonia in Skopje on Friday 8 April before travelling to Belfast to take on Northern Ireland on 12 April.