Chloe Kelly's Man City absence against Barcelona explained amid transfer speculation surrounding Lionesses star

Taylor's side fell to a 3-0 defeat against the current champions of Europe despite impressive performances from Khiara Keating and Laia Aleixandri. Kelly has struggled for game time at City this season but according to her boss, her absence against Barca was beyond his control and prompted by concussion symptoms felt during training in the week.

The relationship between Kelly and Taylor hasn't exactly been smooth lately, with rumours circulating that the out-of-favour winger could benefit from a move in January. The 26-year-old has been forced to spend much of the 2024-25 season on the bench but her manager has insisted there's space for her back in the team if she continues competing, telling reporters: "What Chloe has to do is work hard every day in training to be ready."

Addressing her absence on Wednesday night, Taylor said: “Unfortunately she wasn’t able to train yesterday because of some on-going symptoms. She trained the day before so we were hopeful she would make the trip but the medical team have said that when you have that type of concussion, training can bring it on. For the last two days she mentioned some on-going symptoms that she couldn’t quite shake off."

The City attacker is facing plenty of competition for Kelly's place in Sarina Weigman's England side ahead of Euro 2025 next summer. Some people are of the view that in order to hold down her spot in the team, a January transfer in search of increased game time may be necessary.