Tag: keira walsh

Keira Walsh avoids ACL tear, but England linchpin’s World Cup status unclear

No ACL damage, but Walsh will miss at least one game

England got some good news on Keira Walsh’s status, but it might not be enough to help their World Cup chances.

The Barcelona midfielder fell awkwardly in what became a 1-0 win over Denmark, and there was some fear that she had picked up a severe knee injury.

However, England posted a brief statement to social media on Saturday that scans had shown no ACL damage, allaying the worst fears for the Lionesses.

“Following a scan late on Saturday afternoon, we can confirm Keira Walsh has not suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury,” read England’s statement. “Walsh has been ruled out of Tuesday’s final Group D match and will remain at our Terrigal base to continue her recovery.”

Walsh went down awkwardly in the first half against Denmark, signaling to the bench immediately that she had a knee injury and needed to be substituted. Walsh’s emotions were clear while receiving treatment, and she was eventually carried off on a stretcher. She later returned to the England bench on crutches.

Her replacement, Laura Coombs, wasn’t like-for-like. Instead, manager Sarina Wiegman asked Georgia Stanway to drop deeper into Walsh’s spot, and while England worked their way through the rest of the match confidently enough, it did invite some tactical changes from Denmark.

“We didn’t have the focus on the defensive midfielder,” Denmark boss Lars Søndergaard told a press conference after the match. “We decided at halftime we could play with two strikers that could have different roles and go on pressing on Georgia Stanway.”

Walsh is the latest huge name to find herself potentially missing major time at the worst moment. In Group A, Ada Hegerberg has been ruled out of Norway’s crucial group finale against the Philippines.

After missing two games with a calf injury, Sam Kerr declared herself available for Australia, but her actual ability to step on the field against Canada remains in question. The Matildas initially presented her as having no issues whatsoever until announcing her injury just before lineups were announced for a 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland.

England’s options without Walsh

Walsh, a year after a world-record transfer from Manchester City to the star-studded Barcelona squad, was arguably England’s best player heading into the tournament.

Losing a player of her caliber would impact any team’s hopes, and England came into the World Cup without several other big names, including Fran Kirby and Leah Williamson (both of whom have at times played as England’s No. 6).

England does have some significant midfield depth. Manchester United captain Katie Zelem is the natural fit, but has just eight caps at the senior level. Arsenal’s Jordan Nobbs is another strong candidate, but like Coombs is more of a No. 8 who could step in with Stanway dropping back.

It is also possible for Wiegman to shift into a 4-2-3-1 formation, moving Ella Toone further forward. That would make some degree of sense given the attack-first mentality of fullbacks Lucy Bronze and Rachel Daly, though it may be a more cautious look than England will need to get by against China in their third match in Group D.

From there, though, Walsh’s fitness and Wiegman’s reaction to her status may go a long way towards keeping the Lionesses in the mix as a World Cup favorite.

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Keira Walsh’s record move to Barcelona underlines how much women’s soccer can still grow

The women’s world transfer record should be so much higher by now

Keira Walsh is having a pretty spectacular summer.

The England midfielder has signed a three-year contract with Barcelona, who broke the women’s soccer transfer record by paying a reported £400,000 to bring her over from Manchester City.

It is widely claimed that the old record was Pernille Harder’s move from Wolfsburg to Chelsea, valued at somewhere above £250,000. That claim might be up for debate: the trade that saw Alex Morgan join the San Diego Wave saw the Orlando Pride receive $275,000 and Wales midfielder Angharad James. Either way, it seems fair to say that Walsh’s move is the new global record.

Walsh will join a Barca side that lost the Champions League final this past May, but also only lost two games in the entirety of the 2021-22 season. While the club will have to make due without Alexia Putellas due to injury, Walsh will join a star-studded midfield that includes Aitana Bonmatí and Patri. She’ll also be the second England starter to suit up for Barca, joining Lucy Bronze.

When will this become the norm?

Walsh’s move being a world record dramatically underlines how much room for growth there is in women’s soccer. It doesn’t even cost half a million pounds to get one of the world’s best midfielders, at 25, coming off of a triumphant and widely-watched Euro 2022, onto your roster. Man City, arguably the wealthiest soccer club on the planet, was willing to let a player fitting that description go for what would constitute a rounding error on the men’s side of their club.

Women’s soccer has made tremendous strides in recent years, but the fact is that when it comes to salaries and transfer fees, clubs are still dragging their feet. If Keira Walsh, at this moment in time, can be brought to Barcelona for £400,000, imagine the team that any mid-tier European soccer club can build if they’d set aside a meager £5 million transfer budget for their women’s team.

Take the example of Lyon, who on the women’s side have made it their policy to field about half of the French national team, and then fill the rest of the lineup out with international all-stars. Lyon is a wealthy club in the grand scheme of things, but when it comes to big-time European soccer on the men’s side, their days as a Champions League dark horse are long past, largely because they’ve been priced out.

There’s not a good justification for why Walsh would only command a transfer fee at this level. The argument would probably have something to do with revenue, but we’re in a world where Barcelona’s transfer policy on the men’s side is clearly one that has disconnected the concept of revenue from expenditure.

If you’re a club like Manchester United, the ease with which you could assemble the greatest women’s soccer team ever assembled in this moment in time is frankly staggering. They’ve spent over $260 million on transfers this summer alone. Putting 3% of that figure towards their women’s team would give them, by a wide margin, the biggest transfer budget on the planet.

The giant clubs of Europe have taken the first tentative steps towards treating women’s soccer seriously. Most of them have their teams playing in real stadiums, rather than renting out a semi-pro club’s home. Clubs with training grounds that are essentially soccer heaven have, despite themselves, allowed their women’s team to train there as well. They put their players in marketing material and social media content, they take care of meals and other bare-minimum basics, and they’ve made up technical staffs of actual professionals.

The next step? Seeing how easy it would be to take over the woso world by spending at an even remotely serious level.

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