Manchester City’s Laura Coombs joins Sarina Wiegman’s squad for the Arnold Clark Cup kicking off later today. The midfielder has waited eight years since her last chance in an England shirt and said she was “shocked” to be part of the 26-player squad facing Korea Republic, Italy and Belgium this international break.
Coombs made her international debut in October 2015 under Mark Sampson, playing a couple of minutes in two games in the China Cup. While receiving a call-up to Phil Neville’s final training camp of 2020, the 32-year-old did not feature in the squad.
She is now the oldest player in Wiegman’s roster, but Coombs is a regular in City’s starting XI and manager Gareth Taylor believes it’s well deserved: “She really deserves the England call-up, it’s class to see that she’s finally been recognised.
“I think performance-wise, people are starting to see there's a really good player in there whose capabilities to score goals, create chances and what it will do for Laura is big in terms of giving her that confidence.”
Coombs always offers an energised performance but there was an edge to her play against Arsenal in their league clash at the weekend. Her link-up play, the dogged effort to disrupt momentum and forward balls saw her get the better of Lionesses captain Leah Williamson in the middle of the park which could have something to do with the boost of an England call-up.
Taylor said: “I think she did really well today [Saturday] in terms of being there at the end and showing good energy levels without the ball because she’s another one, similar to Demi [Stokes] whose been in and out of the club for the past two weeks with an illness.
“Laura travelled separately to Arsenal in the midweek game away from the team because she was struggling with this illness, she’s a trooper and she wants to be there and wants to contribute.”
The midfielder will be looking for her third cap for her country during the Arnold Clark Cup fixtures. Regardless, Coombs has committed her future to Manchester City after signing a two-year contract extension on the day of her call-up.
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