One of the Lionesses’s brightest prospects in Australia and New Zealand is Katie Robinson, a pacy winger who only made her debut for Sarina Wiegman’s side last November when she came on as a substitute in a friendly against Norway.
The 20-year-old hails from Newquay in Cornwall where she had to play for Newquary Boys and Goldphin Boys until she turned 16 due the lack of girls’ football facilities in the south west.
After honing her skills at the Cornwall Girls Advanced Coaching Centre and playing for the Plymouth Argyle Boys' Centre of Excellence, she lived with a host family in Bristol in order to be part of Bristol City’s youth system.
She broke into the first team there in 2018 – a period in which she also starred for England at under-17 level, scoring eight in 11 – before joining her current club Brighton and Hove Albion in 2020.
Her progress on the south coast was badly hampered by an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September 2020, however, which caused her to miss the rest of that season and subsequently sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic to continue her recovery.
Wiegman clearly believes in Robinson’s potential though, having picked her for the World Cup squad ahead of much more established names like Manchester United’s Nikita Parris.
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How inclined the manager is to gamble on such an inexperienced prospect remains to be seen.
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