Manchester United risk going into the second half of the WSL season without sufficient depth at full-back if they don’t secure cover in the January transfer window.
Rewind 12 months and it was centre-back that was a concern, with Millie Turner ruled out indefinitely at the start of the New Year. Veteran defender Diane Caldwell was drafted in and it proved vital because Aoife Mannion succumbed to an ACL injury only weeks later.
Even then, both Hayley Ladd and Katie Zelem still had to fill in at the heart of defence at various points before the end of the season, removing them from their own positions in midfield and therefore weakening United at a crucial stage of the campaign.
Adding depth was a key theme of the summer transfer window and United recruited heavily, bringing in seven new faces altogether. But attackers were deliberately prioritised then given the way the team had failed to kill off multiple games in winning positions last season.
Maya Le Tissier, who made her name as a right-back at Brighton but has been performing near flawlessly as a centre-back since joining United, and Aissatou Tounkara arrived in summer. But full-back was not an area that was strengthened.
United said farewell to both back-up full-backs in Kirsty Smith and Martha Harris during the summer after neither got much of a look in last season – Smith has since been a regular starter for West Ham, while Harris would have been one at Birmingham but for injury.
Without sourcing direct replacements because attention and resources were primarily focused on other areas of the pitch, as well as successfully transitioning Le Tissier into a centre-back, it has left Ona Batlle and Hannah Blundell as the only specialised full-backs.
Both players have suffered injuries this season, which has forced reshuffling at times. Blundell was briefly carrying a problem in October, while Batlle was on the sidelines for three WSL games as club staff carefully managed her recovery from a concussion.
What it meant was Maria Thorisdottir, typically far more comfortable in the centre of defence, covering out wide. The Norwegian earned praise for her performances in the circumstances, notably away against Everton, but she is a temporary fix.
Manager Marc Skinner is well aware of the need to recruit, although is still covered in an emergency by Le Tissier’s versatility given her background. Yet in the same way that reshuffling last season pulled Zelem and Ladd out of midfield, it seems a bigger risk to upset what has been a very successful central defensive pairing with Turner.
Leah Galton has also finished more than one game this season at left-back, which is passable but not ideal because she does a conscientious job. But, again, it removes her from where she is most dangerous and effective at the top end of the pitch.
Crucially, full-back recruitment is on the agenda for United. That much has been confirmed. The formal addition of Polly Bancroft to the staff as head of women’s football in October also no doubt helps in the short-term and the long-term in that respect.