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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Louise Wilkes

Manchester United captain Katie Zelem praises Maya Le Tissier after England call-up

Lioness manager Sarina Wiegman announced her final 25-player squad of the year to face ‘challenging’ Japan and Norway. Of those 25, six come from Manchester United.

Maya Le Tissier, who transferred to Manchester United in the summer from Brighton and Hove Albion will join teammates Mary Earps, Katie Zelem, Ella Toone, Alessia Russo and Nikita Parris for her debut international call-up.

Centre-back Le Tissier has been part of the England youth system for the U17s and U19s but is yet to feature in the senior squad.

To fans' dismay, Wiegman left her out of the games against the USA and Czech Republic despite scoring two in her debut with United and solidifying herself as the heart of the United defence since arriving in the summer.

Le Tissier has helped the Reds keep five clean sheets, the only club in the WSL to do so, and scored two in her debut in September proving her worthy of an England call up.

Club captain Katie Zelem said: “Honestly, I'm over the moon. I think it's long overdue for Maya… and Millie Turner, I know she isn't in it, but both of them have been fantastic!”

“We’re the only team now with five clean sheets and that speaks a lot about the team as a whole but specifically Mary and the four girls in front of her so for me, Maya really deserves this.

“On the ball and off the ball, she's been brilliant for us, so hopefully everyone will see her shine now.”

Zelem has been part of the England youth set-up since 2011 and has three senior caps under her belt heading into the November friendlies.

She said: “It's always an honour to go away and represent your country. It's every child's dream, every person's dream who is in sport, to represent the country, it's the highest level possible.

“So for me, going to Spain and testing ourselves against two really great teams is just building blocks to hopefully work up for World Cup selection, for me that’s the aim, so I'm just going to carry on going towards that.”

The Lionesses will play two friendlies in Spain, first, they face Japan on Friday, November 11th (7 pm GMT) and then Norway on Tuesday, November 15th (7 pm GMT).

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