Mary Earps has urged Manchester United to be practical in the summer transfer window - and also insisted that the club must keep their star players if they are to challenge Chelsea for the title next season.
Lucia Garcia’s 72nd-minute strike helped United claim a 1-0 victory over Liverpool on the final day of the league season, but Chelsea ’s comfortable 3-0 win over relegation-bound Reading yielded the WSL title to the defending champions by a two-point margin.
The loss threatened to overshadow a remarkable season executed by Marc Skinner’s side, who reached the FA Cup final and qualified next season's Champions League for the first time in the club's history.
Nevertheless, two league defeats to reigning champions Chelsea, along with the FA Cup final loss to the Blues, saw United end the season gazing from the wrong side of the fine margins courtesy of a team that has come to define them.
And Earps, who made WSL history with a landmark 14th clean sheet in Saturday's shut-out, declared the summer transfer window as critical to United’s mission in eclipsing Emma Hayes’ serial winners next season.
"I think it's been a good season. I think we've maxed out on our potential in terms of running Chelsea to the wire,” the season's Golden Glove winner told BBC after the Liverpool victory. “It's nice that it's close but we know we've got some way to go.
“I think it's about us doing it consistently now.
"We have come so close for a number of seasons but we haven't quite had the team. Hopefully, we can keep the stars we've got and get a couple more and go for silverware."
The Lionesses’ sentiments are not in isolation. United boss Marc Skinner has consistently called for the addition of "world-class players" to his squad and implored for an "aggressive" attitude towards the upcoming transfer window.
“I feel that we already have players that can step up to world-class level, but there's no doubt we have to go into this window and be aggressive in our targets and try and add extra talent to this already-talented squad," Skinner said in the lead-up to Saturday. "We have to be recruiting and we have to be in for the best players in the world. That’s only what I would expect for our team and fans."
The boon of Champions League football will certainly aid in enticing world-class players to Leigh Sports Village. Yet, the future of two key stars on United’s books remain mired in uncertainty, with both Ona Batlle and Alessia Russo out of contract this summer. The latter has been linked with a move to women’s Catalan giants Barcelona while Russo’s unresolved contract remains a source of consternation from the United fanbase.
"The business team are working really hard to make sure [they stay]", Skinner said when asked about the duo. "But if that doesn’t happen and they don’t stay here, then we’ll go into the market to recruit, because we’ll have to.
"Our team is not about any one player. It’s bigger than anybody involved in the club. I hope they stay, but if I was them, I don’t think I’d want to leave this team, in my opinion, because of what we’re achieving and what we’re doing."
The United boss cut a bag of conflicting emotions as he reflected on the season, noting the agony of being pipped by Chelsea to two pieces of silverware over a two week-span while having to underline the formidable progress made in such a truncated time period.
Last season, United’s tally of 56 points was enough to secure Chelsea a third WSL title on the bounce. That United matched this output and pushed the Blues until the final day is direct testament to the club's remarkable evolution over the course of five years.
"The experience we've had this year - the good, the bad and ugly. It will hurt that we're two points off and we've not won the league even though we've broken our own points tally record, but I think next year it will change again,” Skinner said.
"Congratulations to Emma [Hayes] but this team is coming and hunting and [Chelsea] will have to stay on top of their game as well."
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