England No.1 to out of the Lionesses squad! January transfer surely beckons for out-of-favour Man City star Ellie Roebuck after 'hard' message from Sarina Wiegman

Let’s rewind to 2021. With Bardsley and Carly Telford nearing the end of their respective careers and an exciting crop of young goalkeepers coming through, the No.1 shirt was well up for grabs with England – and Roebuck appeared first in line for it.

The then-21-year-old started two of the Lionesses’ three friendlies at the start of 2021 and all four of Great Britain’s matches at the Olympic Games, which took place one month prior to Wiegman’s arrival as England’s new head coach.

Having emerged at City as a teen sensation, she could boast serious experience at this point despite still being so young, and her talent was there for all to see. This was a player who looked ready to be her country’s No.1 for the next decade, one might've argued.

But then came an injury that would put a serious dent in those hopes. In August 2021, weeks before Wiegman’s arrival and on the eve of the new season, Roebuck suffered a calf injury. It was something City coach Taylor described as “a slight issue” and “nothing too severe”. Yet, she would go on to be sidelined for five months.

Speaking to reporters at the group-stage draw for the 2022 European Championships in late October, she admitted that the first real setback of her young career had been “tough” and “really frustrating”. “I felt like I was in really good form and, coming off the back of the Olympics, I was ready to really kick on and look ahead to Euros,” she said. “It's not meant to be yet, but I'm working my way back. It's been very frustrating and time consuming, a lot longer than I thought.”

Initially expected to be out for four to six weeks, she returned briefly after that period, but another scan revealed a tear to another area of her calf and further complications followed. She lost all range of movement in her knee because of the pain she was in and even struggled to get answers from specialists in Barcelona, before finally getting on top of things at the end of the year ahead of an eventual return to action in late January.

All of this, though, meant she missed out on Wiegman’s first three squads as England boss – and while she was sidelined, someone else was making quite an impression…

Mary Earps had not had an England call-up for almost two years when Wiegman started her role as the Lionesses' head coach. Her last appearance for her country had been a big one - at Wembley, against Germany, in front of a record-breaking crowd. Yet after that, a call from former boss Phil Neville would never come again.

“To go from the highest high and play for your country in the biggest game in English female football history, in front of nearly 80,000 people, to then not get selected for SheBelieves [Cup, three months later] was very difficult for me personally,” Earps told The Times in 2021. “I won’t sugar-coat it, I will tell you straight, it was very difficult. I don’t mean from an ego point of view, I mean [it] genuinely hurt to the core of my being."

When Wiegman arrived in September 2021, she brought Earps back and made the Manchester United shot-stopper No.1 for her first games in charge. Barring a bit of rotation from time to time, Earps has remained first-choice ever since, grabbing her opportunity to impress with both hands.

Indeed, the 30-year-old has transformed into one of the best goalkeepers on the planet over the last two years, with her performances at the Euros in 2022 and the World Cup in 2023 absolutely crucial to England reaching back-to-back major tournament finals.

Meanwhile, having set very high standards beforehand, Roebuck hasn’t been her best since that troubling calf injury. The eye test is backed up by the numbers on that, too. Comparing her stats in 2020-21, her last full season before the problem, with 2022-23, her first full season back after it, her save percentage was down – overall, in the box and for shots outside of the box.

The 24-year-old's passing accuracy also decreased, that ability on the ball one of her biggest strengths as a goalkeeper, while her confidence in collecting crosses had clearly taken a knock, as evidenced by the significant increase in drops she registered in 2022-23, having not totted up any in 2020-21.

After starting 10 games by the end of the 2021-22 season, Roebuck said ahead of the summer’s Euros that she had “felt good” since returning, but added: “I'm not by any means where I want to be in terms of match sharpness and things like that. There's so much room for improvement and I know that anyway, so I'm up for that challenge and every day I'm pushing to be better than what I am.”

That may have carried over into the 2022-23 season a little, but to say it has been a surprise to see Roebuck not play a single minute of football in this current campaign is an understatement.

That said, Roebuck is part of one of the most competitive goalkeeping groups in the WSL. While she has spent the last couple of seasons battling for minutes with MacIver, Keating has always been lurking as an exciting prospect, too. The teenager earned her first appearances for City in the 2021-22 season, and has slowly but surely racked up more and more since, to the point of becoming first-choice this year.

“We've got three good goalkeepers and they all bring different things,” Taylor said in October. “The competition for places is really high. We've been working with Sandy and Khiara quite a bit in pre-season because we had them for a little bit longer. Obviously, Ellie was away with England [at the World Cup]. It's about trying to get players up to speed as much as we possibly can, but each one of those three are really well thought of and really valued by us.”

Asked if Roebuck would be able to win her No.1 shirt back, he responded: “Of course she can, yes. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to go into detail about private conversations that I have with Ellie, but she’s really clear on what she does well and what she needs to do in order to keep pushing Khiara and Sandy. We go game by game. We look at the opponent, we see what they bring in terms of the pressure and what type of goalkeeper we would need in those situations. All our goalkeepers are really different.”

Yet, despite Taylor saying that he has liked what he has seen from Roebuck since Keating’s rise to the fore, she has remained without action as we enter the second half of the season.

All of that has resulted in Roebuck losing her place in the England squad, too. In October, the 24-year-old was still called up by Wiegman, the coach citing how she had “built a little bit of credit” with the Lionesses over time. It was the same case for Hampton, the Chelsea shot-stopper who only debuted for the Blues in the final round of WSL games before Christmas.

“I think they still are among the best goalkeepers in the country and I just hope in the future they do get minutes,” Wiegman said. “That makes it a little bit complicated, but I did pick them because I still think they are the best in the country.”

But it all changed a month later when, opting to select three goalkeepers for England’s December fixtures instead of the four she had picked in the last camp, the Lionesses’ boss left Roebuck out. Making up the trio with Earps and Hampton? Roebuck’s Man City team-mate, Keating.

"That's really hard for her, with the position she has at her club now,” Wiegman said of Roebuck at the time. “We did have conversations last time around and we decided to go with four goalkeepers. Now we went back to three and so I had to give her a hard message that we didn't pick her for now. Of course, she's in a hard position and she just has to work hard and see if she can find opportunities. Right now, in the very short-term, that's probably not going to happen.”

So, what can Roebuck do? Well, there is one obvious answer and that is to seek at least a temporary move away from City in the January transfer window, if not a permanent one. Many Arsenal fans have been vocal in their desire to sign the 24-year-old, who has previously held interest from abroad and has also been linked with Manchester United, given the uncertainty surrounding Earps’ future at the club.

A goalkeeper of Roebuck’s quality and with her experience would no doubt have plenty of suitors. The professionalism she has shown since falling out of favour with her club says a lot about her character and personality, too.

Or will she stay and fight for her place? Had there been a chance of Great Britain playing in this summer’s Olympic women’s football tournament, there would’ve been little doubt that Roebuck would look to make a switch in order to stake her claim to be in that squad. But with that possibility eradicated in December, could she stick around until the end of the season, when her contract in Manchester expires? After all, there might be more options for her come the summer.

There will be plenty of clubs keeping tabs on what decision she makes, anyway, because Roebuck remains one of England’s most talented goalkeepers. She just needs the chance to show it again.