Mary Earps will take her time to decide Manchester United future

By Andy Hampson, PA

England goalkeeper Mary Earps is still to decide if her future lies at Manchester United.

The 31-year-old is out of contract this summer and has been linked with a move away from the FA Cup winners.

United manager Marc Skinner has expressed hope Earps, a member of England’s victorious Euro 2022 side and a World Cup finalist, will opt to stay but the player herself has given no indication what her plans are.

Earps said: “The conversations are ongoing, so we’ll see how it pans out in the next couple of weeks. I don’t want to make an emotional decision.”

If Earps is to leave United, her spell at the club will have ended on a low note after a 6-0 thrashing by Women’s Super League champions Chelsea last weekend.

The previous week’s cup final triumph, a 4-0 victory against Tottenham, was a much happier memory, however.

Earps told the PA news agency: “It was massive for the club, massive for the girls, and I think we really deserved it.

“The cup run that we had – you could see how much it meant to everyone and the way we came together was probably against all odds, really, with how the league season went.

“I was really proud to bring that trophy back to Manchester and win my first silverware with the club. I’m trying not to let it be overshadowed by other results but that moment, for sure, was special.”

Earps was speaking at a grassroots coaching event in Manchester organised by digital bank Chase and the four home nations’ football associations.

Chase and the football associations are seeking to support aspiring coaches from low-income backgrounds by funding 2,900 introductory coaching qualifications and 85 professional coaching bursaries across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Earps said: “I think you’ve got to grow the bottom in order to grow the top, really, so it’s important that we focus on grassroots and make sure that there’s as much equal opportunity out there as possible.”

Earps will soon switch focus back to the international game with England facing back-to-back home and away European qualifiers against France at the end of this month and early next.

She said: “They’re really, really important and we’ll be taking them seriously, as we always do. We’ll be looking to prepare in the best possible way to hopefully get some positive results.

“I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously, playing for your country is an unbelievable feeling, an incredible privilege.

“Every time I meet up with the girls, I’m over the moon, really, to play with the best players in the country.”