Man United women may lose rising star with Mark Skinner’s team a ‘mess’

Manchester United may lose their rising star Grace Clinton to Tottenham Hotspur this summer with Mark Skinner’s team a ‘mess’.

Manchester United‘s 21-year-old midfielder Grace Clinton has been on loan at Tottenham Hotspur this season and has started every Women’s Super League fixture so far, bar the tie against United for contractual reasons.

Clinton has shone at Spurs so far, providing four goals and three assists at her loan club as well as breaking into the England national team – and manager Robert Vilahamn has openly admitted he would love to keep her in the squad on a permanent basis.

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Spurs want Clinton

“It’s a loan for the whole season,” Vilahamn told The Athletic. “Then she has another year with Man United. So she will go back to them. Then, of course, there will be a lot of clubs who might be interested. We would definitely be interested in her.

“But the main thing is she belongs to Manchester United, and she has a contract with them. So whatever happens in the summer is that she goes back there and then the future will tell what happens.

“She cannot stay because she’s not a part of us next year. But if you ask me if I want to buy her, there would be a high potential I want to do that, yes, but right now we cannot discuss that because we are in the middle of the season. She’s only here on a loan. So ask me after the season.”

United are a mess

After their title charge last season that saw United narrowly miss out on the WSL title to Chelsea by just two points, this season as been a lot less fruitful, with the club sitting in fourth, six points off Arsenal in third and 15 points off top spot – currently occupied by Manchester City.

With just four games left of the current campaign, significant rumours have been circulating about Mark Skinner’s future.

Last week, UtdDistrict revealed that those at the club are not impressed with Skinner and that there were doubts about handing him a long-term deal – some fans feel that the structure at the women’s side of the club is a complete mess.

Some match-going fans have begun to turn against the manager in recent months, with chants against his name being sung.

Although there have been new reports of Skinner being offered a short-term deal, sources are adamant that the doubts are still there, as there have been doubts throughout the season within the hierarchy about Skinner’s ability to take the team to the next level.