Wiegman talks keepers, young players and Nations League action.

Above: Sarina Wiegman (England Women's football manager) Credit: Sky Sports

Sarina Wiegman has named her 25-player squad for England’s UEFA Women’s Nations League double header against Belgium early next month.

In this window, we are seeing returns from Fran Kirby, Beth Mead and Khiara Keating, as well as a first call-up for Brightons Maisie Symonds. Sarina Wiegman spoke Symonds, saying, “We’ve been watching Maisie at Brighton, but also, she's played some good games for the under 23s… I’m really looking forward to seeing where she's at.”. 

Tottenham's Jessica Naz has been left out of the squad due to form. Wiegman addressed this: “No injury concerns its based on selection. Yeah, there is high competition going on, and I think Jess is struggling with her form, and hopefully, she gets that back. But she is close to selection.”

There is multiple losses within the squad with Laura Blinkdle Brown, Lotte Wubben-Moy and Ruby Mace not appearing due to recent injuries. Also, Georgia Stanway, Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp are missing due to long term injuries.

With Khiara Keating entering the squad, England now has four keepers, only being able to take 3 to the Euros. She spoke: “Looking at this camp now, we are also looking at the Euros. We are bringing in four goalkeepers when in the tournament we can only have three, and we just want to have them four goalkeepers in our squad and in our environment next week.” 

There is also the conversation of Mary Earps and Hannah Hampton, who are competing for the number 1 shirt. Speaking on this, she said, “Yeah, it's a really hard decision to make. We have 4 really good goalkeepers in the squad. You're talking about Hannah and Mary, who are really competing for the number one position. They are both world-class; they both bring a little bit different things, but that makes it really hard. We haven't decided if we've made the decision with them now. First we will have a conversation with them, then we move forward.”

In this upcoming window, the Lionesses will be playing Belgium back to back. This is something England has experience with coming up against them previously in the Nations League and France in the Euros qualifiers in this way. Discussing this, Wiegman said, “It doesn't really matter if I've enjoyed it or not, but this is the reality; this is what we need to approach, and we have to show up in our best shape and play our best games two times in a row on Friday and on Tuesday”

We spoke to Sarina about England's current injury list and how this will impact the integration of new players into the squad. She said, “I don't know yet because, let's see, of course, many young players have come in, working really hard and are excited, and I think the whole team also tries to support them. That's back-and-forth, by the way. At the end of the day, It's all about being the best in that position and have a big contribution to the team performances and I hope that I have many hard decisions to make when we make the squad announcement after not after this camp but before the Euros and then we know who are available in performance wise in a good position."

England continues their Nations League campaign in Bristol on the 4th of April, before playing away in Belgium at the King Power at Den Dreef Stadion on the 8th of April.