Katie Zelem: England’s set-piece specialist in profile
Winger turned central midfielder faces difficult challenge of breaking into Sarina Wiegman’s starting lineup but talent and experience not in doubt
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Manchester United captain Katie Zelem has represented England at all five youth levels, from the under-15s to the under-23s, but has struggled to break into the senior side’s midfield, where competition for places is fierce.
Now 27, Zelem grew up in Oldham, where both her father and uncle were former professional footballers.
Aged just eight, she was accepted into Manchester United Girls’ Centre of Excellence in 2004 and stayed within the club’s youth setup until 2013, when she departed for Liverpool in search of fresh opportunities to advance.
She played 38 times over a four-year period for the Reds, picking up two Women’s Super League titles, scoring 10 and being named the club’s Young Player of the Year for 2014 before spending the 2017/18 season with Juventus in Italy, a dream experience in which she scored four across 18 appearances in what proved to be another championship-winning year.
Returning to the UK and rejoining Manchester United, Zelem has since established herself at the centre of the side’s midfield, a position she has gradually settled on after starting out as a winger, modelling herself on Fara Williams and Andres Iniesta.
The Red Devils won the FA Women’s Championship in 2018/19 and, the following season, she was named captain following the departure of Alex Greenwood, leading a side that currently features fellow Lionesses Mary Earps and Ella Toone.
Zelem’s talent and leadership is not in doubt but she faces a difficult task in attempting to break into Sarina Wiegman’s first team in Australia and New Zealand this summer, given that doing so would require disrupting the central partnership between Keira Walsh and Georgia Stanway that proved so effective on home soil a year ago.
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A reputation for picking up yellow cards may also not help her case.
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