Mary Earps will take her time to decide Manchester United future
The England goalkeeper is out of contract this summer.
England goalkeeper Mary Earps is still to decide if her future lies at Manchester United.
The 31-year-old is out of contract this summer and has been linked with a move away from the FA Cup winners.
United manager Marc Skinner has expressed hope Earps, a member of England’s victorious Euro 2022 side and a World Cup finalist, will opt to stay but the player herself has given no indication what her plans are.
If Earps is to leave United, her spell at the club will have ended on a low note after a 6-0 thrashing by Women’s Super League champions Chelsea last weekend.
The previous week’s cup final triumph, a 4-0 victory against Tottenham, was a much happier memory, however.
Earps told the PA news agency: “It was massive for the club, massive for the girls, and I think we really deserved it.
“The cup run that we had – you could see how much it meant to everyone and the way we came together was probably against all odds, really, with how the league season went.
Earps was speaking at a grassroots coaching event in Manchester organised by digital bank Chase and the four home nations’ football associations.
Chase and the football associations are seeking to support aspiring coaches from low-income backgrounds by funding 2,900 introductory coaching qualifications and 85 professional coaching bursaries across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Earps said: “I think you’ve got to grow the bottom in order to grow the top, really, so it’s important that we focus on grassroots and make sure that there’s as much equal opportunity out there as possible.”
She said: “They’re really, really important and we’ll be taking them seriously, as we always do. We’ll be looking to prepare in the best possible way to hopefully get some positive results.
“I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously, playing for your country is an unbelievable feeling, an incredible privilege.
“Every time I meet up with the girls, I’m over the moon, really, to play with the best players in the country.”
