The England star that Sarina Wiegman is “very happy” to welcome back into squad | OneFootball

Sarina Wiegman has named her captain Leah Williamson in her upcoming squad for the FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine and Iceland.

The central defender has been unavailable since leading her country to their second successive Women’s Euros last summer.

Now, however, she is making her way back to full fitness, and the Lionesses head coach spoke on Tuesday morning about her pleasure at being able to select Williamson again – this time in an unusually large squad of 25 players.

“I’m very happy and it feels very good for her too,” said Wiegman. “She really wanted to be back.

“I’m in close contact with her and I’m in close contact with club. She’s in a good place but she has a little bit of lack of minutes.

“I think there’s some more players who are still building or didn’t get the minutes we hoped for. That’s also one of the reasons why we go with a bigger squad and we do have some time to come together before we get ready for the Ukraine game. I still think those are the best players to call up.”

Leah Williamson was out for three months at the start of the season with a knee injury and then suffered a problem with her calf after making her return for her club Arsenal.

Sarina Wiegman: England want to qualify as soon as possible

Wiegman has kept Ellie Roebuck in the squad after the Aston Villa goalkeeper replaced Khiara Keating last time round.

Roebuck has had a difficult few years after suffering a stroke caused by a blood clot, returning to action for her then-club Barcelona in late 2024.

“She came in last camp because we had some injuries with goalkeepers and she got some minutes,” said the head coach.

“She’s in a better place – she had some setbacks over the last year. It’s really good to see her back and see her happy and to see her being available and playing and training.”

However, both Beth Mead and Ella Toone – talismanic figures in recent years – are out through injury.

But Wiegman is confident that the squad she has selected can get the job done, saying: “I think we have enough players in the squad to play good games and to have players on the pitch that are fit and can perform at the highest level – that’s what we need to do and what we want to do.”

She went on: “I’m very excited to be back. The message is we want to qualify as soon as possible and that’s a huge challenge with the group we have but I’m excited to see that.”