When Grace Clinton faced the media this summer, ahead of her first Women’s Super League season with Manchester United, she was under no illusions with regards to the pressure that was going to be on her at the club, after a breakthrough loan spell at Tottenham and an electric start to her England career. But the way she’s been playing in this campaign, it’s as if she doesn’t feel the weight of expectation whatsoever.
The message from United boss Marc Skinner was not to change anything from the season she had just spent at Spurs, which earned Clinton her Lionesses debut and the PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year award. “Marc has reassured me, saying, ‘Don’t come in and feel like you have to prove anything, just come in and settle in and just keep enjoying it’,” she explained. “He’s just [giving me] the same messages that I had at Tottenham, which is really nice for me to hear.”
Fitting with that consistent message is the consistency of performance from Clinton, though it’s actually easy to argue that her level has even gone up this year from the last. Perhaps that’s no surprise, given the experiences she has accumulated in such a short time, and if she can continue in this vein, with the European Championship right around the corner, she’s going to get the opportunity to shine on even bigger stages.