Sarina Wiegman believes coach-player relationships are ‘very inappropriate’ | England women’s football team

Sarina Wiegman said the relationships between female soccer players and their coaches are unhealthy, inappropriate and unsafe.

The England manager was reacting to events at WSL club Leicester, where head coach Willie Kirk is the subject of an internal investigation following allegations of an affair with a player.

“I think the relationship between player and coach is very inappropriate,” Wiegman said. “We shouldn’t accept that and it’s not healthy. Our environment is a professional one, it’s all about performance and it has to be safe at all times. Things can happen. But that is inappropriate and we all need to be very aware of that.”

Wiegmann’s demeanor brightened when discussing Leah Williamson’s return to the squad for the Euro 2025 qualifiers against Sweden and Ireland.

England’s captain and central defender has not played for his country since sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury last spring. After nine months on the sidelines, Williamson returned to action for Arsenal in January, but a minor hamstring injury meant he was left out of England’s squad for friendlies against Austria and Italy last month. Ta.

“I look forward to working with her again,” Wiegman said. The team will play Sweden at Wembley on Friday, April 5th, and Ireland in Dublin the following Tuesday. “She’s recovering very well and getting her rhythm back. Of course, she hasn’t played many games yet, but she’s getting there. I’m very happy. The team seems to be doing well.”

Still, Wiegmann has confirmed that England’s Arsenal players (Williamson, Beth Meade, Alessia Russo and Lotte Ubben-Moy) will play against the A-League all-star team in an exhibition match on May 24th. They will be hoping they don’t face a hectic trip to Australia. It was less than a week after the end of the WSL season and just seven days before back-to-back international games against France began. “I think there are a lot of challenges for the players and for us given the calendar and the packed schedule,” she said. “That trip was amazing.

“I don’t think it’s good for them to go to the other side of the world, given the already complicated schedule. It’s such a short period of time that they don’t have time to adapt. They will play two games for us against France. It will be difficult for them to perform at the highest level.”

Wiegman can certainly do without Arsenal’s trip to Australia, given that the Lionesses progress directly to next year’s competition in Switzerland and need to finish in the top two of their Euro 2025 qualifying group to avoid the play-offs. right.

Ideally, they would have paired Williamson with Millie Bright in central defense next week, but the 30-year-old has been sidelined for several months with a knee injury.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Wiegman said. “We all hoped she would recover a little faster, but she’s taking her time and doing the right thing to recover and not get frustrated again. To strengthen everything, she I need to train a little more in the gym.”

Manchester United centre-back Millie Turner has remained in place, but her clubmate and defender Maya Le Tissier has been controversially left out of the 23-strong group. “She talked to her,” Wiegman said. “We have talked about the defensive line.”

United’s top scorer, Nikita Paris, with 71 caps, has once again failed to do well enough to convince the England manager to rekindle his once-illustrious England career. Paris has scored 16 goals in 23 games this season and he insists he will not give up hope of an international call-up.

Wiegman was happy to talk about Manchester City midfielder Jess Park. He maintained his status last Saturday against Manchester United, scoring twice in a 3-1 win. “She’s having so much fun and playing so freely. There’s so much competition for that position, but that’s good for the team.”