Lionesses captaincy to be "revisited" despite Williamson's return from injury
Sarina Wiegman said she plans to "revisit" the Lionesses ' captaincy despite the long-awaited return of Arsenal and England defender Leah Williamson into the national team squad for the first time in 10 months.
Williamson was made captain in 2022 and has been synonymous with the position as she helped the Lionesses to a first-ever major tournament triumph at the European Championships that summer. She became the first England captain, men's or women's, to lead England to a Euro victory and the only captain to lead the women's team to an international triumph.
However, after suffering an ACL injury last spring, the 26-year-old has been unavailable for selection and the captain's armband shared around the squad.
Williamson returned to the competitive fold with Arsenal earlier this year after spending nine months in recovery. Her first appearance arrived in the Gunner’s 6-0 League Cup victory at Reading, coming off the bench. She has since made two starts for Jonas Eidevall’s side, including the 1-0 FA Cup fifth round loss to Manchester City at which Wiegman was in attendance.
And she was included in Wiegman's most recent England squad ahead of the team's double-header in Spain against Austria and Italy at the end of the month.
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But who will wear the captain's armband caused a moment of confusion as Wiegman revealed plans to "revisit" the topic with the squad.
"I have to talk to the players first about that, so we'll come in, and it's also a new moment, we start again. We'll probably revisit that and have a conversation first with the group," she said.
Wiegman's comments do not imply that Williamson will be stripped of the captaincy, though the unexpected nature of the comments sparked some confusion. Chelsea defender Millie Bright has worn the armband most often in lieu of Williamson, though the Chelsea defender has yet to return from a knee injury. Wiegman said she anticipates Bright to return before April, though Blues manager Emma Hayes has not confirmed the prognosis.
England manager Sarina Wiegman named her 23-player squad for the upcoming double-header in Spain as the Lionesses prepare to for their EURO2025 qualification campaign (Getty Images)The England boss stressed throughout her press conference the contributions of the team in Williamson's absence to shoulder the captain's responsibility, and it could be that Wiegman is considering taking a page out of the former world champions USWNT's book and sharing the armband around the group.
Mary Earps, Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood have also captained their country in the past.
On the forthcoming captaincy, former England striker Ellen White stressed the need to ease Williamson in to an environment that she has spent so many months outside of.
"What it’s about for Leah is easing her in, not throwing her in into the big role of England captain," she said on BBC's Football Daily podcast. "Leah has been out for a long time, out of the set-up, the meetings, the discussions, what’s been going on on and off the pitch. Sarina is very good about bringing players in and easing them in and not putting too much pressure on them straight away and I think that’s what makes Sarina such a great manager."
Williamson captained England to a first-ever Women's Euro triumph (Getty Images)Current England No 10 Fran Kirby echoed her former teammate's sentiments, though she believes the friendly nature of the camp would provide the ideal opportunity for Williamson to ease into the captain's role.
"A team is never defined by one captain," Kirby said. "We have so many leaders in the group. Leah has been our main captain and she’s done such a fantastic job since taking on that role. In my opinion I don’t think anyone would really question her coming back in and having that role because people respect her and know what her team values are.
"I think it’s a nice way of bringing her in that this is a friendly camp, there’s no pressure really. It’s not a qualifier where all eyes are on Leah. I know the group has missed her: her experience, her leadership and the qualities that she has.
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England will travel to Algeciras in Spain for a warm-weather training camp before playing their two fixtures at the Estadio Nuevo Mirador on 23 and 27 February respectively.
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