Beth Mead returns to England squad and can help Sarina Wiegman's team hit top form

Arsenal forward Beth Mead’s return to the England squad for the first time in 12 months will give the Lionesses extra energy ahead of two crucial Women’s Nations League games, says head coach Sarina Wiegman.

Mead has been recalled for the first time since recovering from the anterior cruciate ligament knee injury that kept her out of this summer’s World Cup. The 2022 Euros Golden Boot winner, who was named as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year last December, has not played for her country since a 4-0 friendly victory over Japan in southern Spain on 11 November 2022, before rupturing her ACL later that month.

England will host Wiegman’s former side, the Netherlands, at Wembley on Friday 1 December before travelling to Hampden Park to face Scotland on Tuesday 5 December, needing to win both fixtures and hope group rivals Belgium’s results go their way to have a chance of topping the group and keeping their hopes of Olympic qualification alive.

Mead was controversially left out of Team GB’s squad for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, by former interim head coach Hege Riise, and therefore the prospect of competing in Paris next summer will surely be a huge motivator for Mead.

She comes into the squad in place of Manchester City’s Jess Park, while there is still no place in the senior Lionesses squad for Chelsea youngster Aggie Beever-Jones, nor Manchester United’s experienced winger Nikita Parris, who each have four and three Women’s Super League goals so far this term respectively.

Mead did make her Arsenal comeback in the WSL prior to Wiegman naming her most recent squad, before October’s double header against Belgium, but Wiegman felt Mead was still not quite ready. On Tuesday, speaking at St George’s Park about calling up Mead, Wiegman said: “That was a very good phone call, she was very happy.

“We had conversations before September’s camp, before and after, and in October too because she was already fully training and getting some minutes but I just wanted to see a little more. That’s what we have seen now. Her health is really good so she can just go. She’s shown enough for me and my technical staff to bring her in.

“She is a character that brings positive energy, on pitch and off pitch. I think we have a lot of players like that. It’s good to have her back. Her experience, the way she plays. She’s different to other players on the wing so she brings different things so that’s good for the team. We have different opportunities again. I expect on and off the pitch that [she will] give us some extra energy.”

A timely, much-needed boost for the Lionesses

Mead’s return could scarcely have come at a better time for the Lionesses, ahead of two must-win games and with the team having appeared to lack ruthlessness in front of goal in their past four games since the end of the World Cup.

Having suffered two defeats out of four, away to the Netherlands and away to Belgium, England not only need to rediscover their top form to try and get to the Olympics, but also to stave off any risk of relegation. Sitting third in their group, they would face a Nations League relegation play-off fixture against a second-tier nation in February if they do not rise higher in the group in December. Performances have not exactly been awful, far from it, but they have undeniably been below the high standards this team have set in the past two years.

Mead has 29 goals in 50 senior international caps and has the best goals-per-game contribution for England since Wiegman’s tenure began in September 2021. Her experience could be vital against a strong Dutch side and an ever-improving Scotland. Her instinctive movement in front of goal has undoubtedly been missed in her year away from the international game.

At the other end of the pitch, Wiegman’s selections have added to the disappointment this season for Manchester City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck for whom there is no place in this squad. Roebuck appears to have fallen down the pecking order at both club and country as her club’s third-choice shot-stopper, while her team-mates Khiara Keating, City’s new number one, retains her place in Wiegman’s senior squad.

On Roebuck’s omission, Wiegman added: “That’s really hard for her, with the position she has at [her] club now. We did have conversations with her. At the last camp we decided to keep the four goalkeepers. Now we went back to three, so I had to give her the hard message that we didn’t pick her for now. Yes, of course she’s in a hard position. She just has to work hard and see if she can find opportunities to play. And right now, in the very short term, that’s probably not going to happen.”