Nikita Parris' shock Lionesses recall could be exactly what Alessia Russo and England need as Euros title defence looms

Wiegman has tried other options in the No.9 role since Daly's retirement. When that news broke, Aggie Beever-Jones looked like she could be next up. Naturally a winger but a player who has played as a striker often enough at Chelsea, and at youth level with England, she had a fantastic 2023-24 season, scoring 11 Women's Super League goals despite just six of her 17 appearances being starts. Unsurprisingly, her first senior England call-up came in May. More surprisingly, though, is that she has struggled for opportunities, winning just two caps despite being in the squad for eight separate games amid the obvious need for more depth behind Russo.

Jessica Naz, the 24-year-old Tottenham forward, has had more chances leading the line, even starting November’s huge friendly against the United States at Wembley. However, she primarily plays as a winger for Spurs and it is there that her qualities seem to be best-suited.

There have been other players who have moved up front when needed. Jess Park, who played as a No.9 in her youth, was deployed in a front two in December, while Lauren Hemp, missing from this camp due to injury, has often seemed to be Wiegman's 'break in case of emergency' option there. But the weight of expectation is currently almost exclusively on Russo to score goals from that centre-forward position for England.

Of course, there should be expectation and pressure on England's No.9. We're talking about the European champions, a team that reached the last World Cup final and one that ranks as one of the best international sides in the women's game. But Russo could still do with some support.

At the Euros in 2022, Ellen White was the Lionesses' starting striker, but she was backed up brilliantly by Russo, who excelled as a super-sub in the tournament, so much so that she actually scored four goals to White's two. England need some sort of support for Russo like that which she provided three years ago, someone who can take the baton in the final stages of the game, someone who can grant her a rest but still step in and provide a goal threat.

Moreover, the Lionesses need someone who can come into the position and genuinely score goals. Injuries to key players like Hemp, Georgia Stanway and Beth Mead, plus Lauren James' prolonged absence from the team, mean that goals are not coming as reliably from other forwards right now. That makes the importance of the No.9 even greater.

When Daly stepped away from England duty, it felt like there were two roads Wiegman could take. She could allow someone like Beever-Jones, a young and exciting talent with a bright future but a lack of experience, to become second-in-line for the centre-forward position, or she could turn to an experienced goal-scorer, like Parris or Bethany England, the latter of whom she took to the 2023 Women's World Cup because of those qualities and her sensational form for Tottenham.

Wiegman appears to have gone down the first route but, for whatever reason, Beever-Jones just hasn't become as prominent yet as many might've expected. The 21-year-old is clearly talented and likely just needs some more time to develop into what the coach wants her to be in this team. So, given the lack of depth at centre-forward remains, it makes sense for the coach to now look down the other road, especially given the importance of this imminent Nations League campaign and the fact that the Euros is right around the corner.

England will surely feel disappointed that, as Wiegman looked to turn to an experienced and proven goal-scorer, it wasn't herself who got the call this month. Scorer of seven of Spurs' 19 league goals this season, despite starting just 11 games, the 30-year-old felt ahead of Parris in the pecking order given her call-up to the World Cup came some six months after the Brighton forward's most recent inclusion in a Lionesses squad.

Perhaps Wiegman will yet take another look at England. She has a chance to evaluate Parris at this camp and then there are two more before the Euros comes around. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the Spurs star, given her current form and previous experience, could also get a look in.

But Parris has been thriving in the WSL this season, too, having joined Brighton last summer. The 30-year-old was consistently knocking on the door for England last season, when she finished as Manchester United's top goal-scorer with 16 goals in all competitions, and now she will finally get a chance to remind Wiegman what she can bring to the table. That is experience, good goal-scoring form, strong leadership, a little more versatility than England and a personality that lights up any dressing room.

"She knows what's needed in international football," Wiegman said of Parris last week, in what felt like her most telling comment about the forward. The Euros kicks off in less than five months and if the coach wants to bolster her centre-forward options quickly, Parris can do that. She knows the environment, she knows the players and she knows the expectations; she will settle with ease.

"I think she doesn't take it for granted anymore," Fara Williams, Parris' former England team-mate and long-time friend, said of the forward on the BBC this week. "Sometimes when you're a regular being picked, you kind of forget those things you need to do. For her, she's just buzzing to be a part of it, she's going to go and try to continue her club form at England. I think she has to go there and not try and change who she is and what her strengths are in order to remain there. She's shown enough at Brighton to be selected and that is what she's got to remember going into camp."

This is good news for Russo. Look at the centre-forwards who will be leading the line for the top contenders at this summer's Euros and her minutes are so far ahead of anyone else's. Nations like Spain and Italy are excellent at rotating their No.9s, balancing the workload out brilliantly, while the more established strikers of other teams - Marie-Antoinette Katoto of France, Sweden's Stina Blackstenius and Germany star Lea Schuller, for example - have all played at least 800 fewer minutes than Russo for club and country in this current season.

There's no doubt that Russo will go into the Euros as England's first-choice centre-forward, but Wiegman will not want her to go into that tournament tired. Bringing in someone like Parris could give the Lionesses an experienced and proven replacement from the bench and in games where rotation is an opportunity.

As well as that, Parris' versatility, which includes a lot of previous experience out wide, could also lend itself to the 3-5-2 formation that Wiegman brought back for the Switzerland friendly in December. "We want to be adaptable to what we have in front of us and also how we want to play," she said of that change of shape post-match, which made it sound like it wasn't just a one-off.

A heavily experimental starting line-up meant it was Beever-Jones and Park who played as the front two in that game, with Russo replacing the latter at half-time. When this formation proved fruitful back in 2023, it was Hemp who so often linked-up well with Russo in the striker pairing, but she is currently working her way back from knee surgery.

However, if Wiegman does look at that shape again before the Euros - and it might not be a bad idea, as it is one that masks some of the weaknesses in this England squad - Parris would certainly be capable of providing an option in it and could potentially be a great foil to Russo in a front two. She already plays in an uncommon formation at Brighton in which she is the lead No.9 but is required to link up with forwards that are much closer to her than in the 4-3-3 shape that dominates today's game.

At the end of the day, Parris might not actually solve the issues that England have up front. Wiegman might use the April window to call in another option, like England, she might hand out more opportunities to Beever-Jones or she might find a better way to optimise Naz's talents in a central role. But Parris' call-up is a positive in that it shows Wiegman is actively trying to ensure there is some depth behind Russo as the Euros approach, depth that could relieve some of the workload on her right now.

Now, it's up to Parris to show she can offer some solutions. Given how long she has waited for another opportunity to represent her country, you can bet that she's going to do everything in her power to get the chance to shine.