Grace Clinton could be the ideal England replacement for injured Georgia Stanway - but Lionesses midfielder needs to rediscover her mojo at Man Utd first

It's certainly unexpected that Clinton is in this position. After all, she was in flying form in the first half of the season, having returned to United following a scintillating loan spell with Tottenham that saw her earn a senior England debut. Match-winning goals against Everton and Crystal Palace highlighted her game-changing qualities, as her performances as the No.10 helped the Red Devils cope with the injury absence of Ella Toone.

However, since the latter’s return, Clinton has struggled to play the same starring role. Toone has come back with a bang, bagging six goals in her last six games, and United boss Marc Skinner has understandably opted to give the 25-year-old the reins in that No.10 role for now.

As such, Clinton has struggled for starts in 2025. Her only two have come in cup games: ahead of Toone for the League Cup quarter-final with Manchester City, likely owing to the recent return from injury of United’s No.7, and alongside her in the FA Cup win over third-tier Wolves at the weekend, when a more creative midfield was less likely to get exposed defensively. In the Red Devils’ last three WSL outings, Clinton has been on the bench.

“I think the reality is that you can learn a lot about resilience in this moment,” Skinner said last week, asked about Clinton’s recent run out of the starting XI. “I genuinely believe resilience is one of the biggest skillsets a footballer can have because … there's so many different things that will challenge you as a footballer.

"From our perspective, I think it's just about her learning in these moments, but also knowing that she's a huge part of the team and when she comes in and when she does her thing, whether it's from the start or from the bench, she can have a massive influence. I'm looking forward to her getting back to that form. It's something the team and myself are going to help her with.”

Perhaps Clinton’s minutes are more likely to come in a different position right now. After all, she shone out wide for Spurs last season and Skinner, like Wiegman, believes in her ability to play in the slightly deeper No.8 role. “She’s clearly a creator, but she also has the tenacity to want to defend in those bigger spaces as well,” Skinner explained. “I think it's something she can continue to develop as well. It's not completely there right now, but it's something I know we want to focus on, and she wants to focus on.”

However, there is competition there at United too, with Japan international Hinata Miyazawa nailing down the box-to-box role in recent weeks. “It’s been a really high form midfield,” in Skinner’s words. “For us, I think it's about trying to strike the balance against the right opponent,” he added. “All we have to do is just keep working on the subtle differences between being an all-out attacking 10 and then knowing that there's defensive responsibilities within the No.8. That's an awareness thing, not a capability thing.

"I think it's about time and growth with Grace in that area, but also knowing that when she's on the field, she creates magic. It’s about not pulling that away from her. It's a really, really subtle balance. It's something we've got to strike together. But I'm looking forward to seeing her create and build from deep, but also help destroy attacks as well. That future is bright for us then, because they're all young in there.”

That future is only bright for Clinton and United, however, if the club can tie her down to a longer contract. A one-year extension in her current deal was triggered just after Christmas, keeping her around until the summer of 2026. However, that still means she will enter the final year of her contract this summer. That’s the kind of situation which clubs interested in the 21-year-old will test, almost certainly more so if the player isn’t getting regular game time. It’s a significant factor in unease among fans about Clinton’s recent minutes, or lack thereof.

It is hard not to feel like figuring out where she fits into this United team alongside Toone is going to be important when it comes to ensuring she remains at the club for many more years, then. It was a point of particular intrigue coming into the season and it has only become more interesting for the second half of the campaign.

England, meanwhile, will be keen for Clinton to push her way back into that starting line-up so that she comes into international breaks and, eventually, the Euros in flying form – and if she has to work around Toone and can actually secure a spot in the No.8 role, that might even be better for them given the Stanway situation.

Regardless, it’s a role Wiegman has played the youngster in before, even when she’s been playing different positions for her club, and it seems likely that she will deploy her in that deeper role in the next few months too.

That’s because while Clinton is one of five players in the current England squad who can star in the No.10 role – alongside Toone, Jess Park, Lauren James and Laura Blindkilde Brown, with the soon-to-return Fran Kirby another option – there is not as much choice in the deeper midfield positions.

That’s not always been the case. Katie Zelem deputised for Walsh when she got injured at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, and more experienced names like Jordan Nobbs and Laura Coombs have both provided depth behind Stanway in the past, too. However, all three have fallen out of favour for England in recent times.

Fortunately, there are some younger players on the rise to try and address this issue. Ruby Mace, the Leicester City holding midfielder, earned her senior debut back in December, with Blindkilde Brown also winning a first cap in the same game. The latter played more as a No.10 before joining Man City in January 2024, where she has often been deployed deeper. “I don’t really mind which position I play,” she said this week. “I like the defensive side, but I also do like the attacking side. But it does help with opportunities, knowing that I can do both.”

Still, while Mace and Blindkilde Brown offer real promise for the future, Clinton is ahead of the two recent debutantes at England level, having been involved in the senior set-up for over a year now. Wiegman has trusted her in some huge occasions, with starts at Wembley already under her belt, and it’d be a surprise if she didn’t put her faith in her in Stanway’s absence, too. “I think she can be a No.8,” the Lionesses boss said with real confidence this week.

If Clinton’s recent struggles for minutes at United continue, it could present problems – for England’s midfield options and perhaps even for the Red Devils’ chances of tying her down to a long-term deal. Given her undoubted quality, it may just be a potential issue, one that is resolved in a matter of weeks. It’s fair to say all parties will hope that is the case.

For now, though, she remains the obvious solution to one of the Lionesses’ biggest quandaries and she’ll hope she can enter that international window with a bang, whether that is by making an impact in United’s final outing before the break from the start or from the bench against Crystal Palace on Sunday.