Ex-United goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain has say on Mary Earps and explains the one condition England number one will stay in Manchester

Ahead of the start of the new Women’s Super League season on Sunday, former Manchester United and England goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain spoke exclusively to Ladbrokes about Mary Earps.

United’s European campaign key to Earps future

It looks like it’s just been a complete mess from all parties, to be honest with you. Man United obviously want her to sign a new contract. Could they have done that before the World Cup, finalising things early so that there weren’t any issues when she returned from Australia? Arsenal look like they want to sign her. Should they have tried to do that with a little bit more effort before the World Cup started?

When you come back from a competition like the World Cup, there’s so much fallout, and there’s so much else going on in such a short time frame. Arsenal will have been preparing for the Champions League qualification. It all just turned into an absolute mess, and then United were adamant that they didn’t want to let her go, especially so late in the transfer window. I know they’ve ended up bringing in Phallon Tullis-Joyce, but they would have run the risk of being in such a difficult position were they to have let Mary leave for Arsenal so late in the window.

It all just seemed very messy, and as for Mary’s future, I think a lot will depend on whether or not Manchester United are still in Europe after January. If they are, then I think she’ll stick around. But if they’re not, then it’s potentially an opportunity for United to cash in on her and invest that money elsewhere.

If she doesn’t want to remain at the club, then you’ve already got a replacement in Tullis-Joyce, so is January an opportunity to get some money to reinvest in the squad? We know that two key players left this summer on free transfers, to Arsenal and Barcelona, and at the end of the day, it’s a business.

United should pick Earps ahead of Tullis-Joyce

I don’t really know what’s going to happen in goal for Man United this season. Look, if you’ve got Mary Earps at your club, and she’s fit and available, you play her, so long as she’s being professional, which I’ve no doubt she is being because I know the type of person she is. She knows she needs to be playing if she wants to play for England, and she’s got the ability to be number one, of course, because she’s one of the best goalkeepers around, and has just had a phenomenal summer off the back of an amazing couple of years for her country.

It’s just that if she is leaving in January, how does that dynamic work? Obviously United won’t want her to go, but do they let her leave in January for a fee, let her leave at the end of the season when her contract runs out or do they convince her to stay? There are a lot of options in there, and we can only go off what we hear in the media – we don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors at the club.

If she is leaving, do United then look at transitioning Phallon Tullis-Joyce into the starting line-up, in which case, is Mary going to be on the bench? And how is that dynamic going to work between the two of them? Goalkeepers are very different individuals. I think I’ve already seen from Tullis-Joyce’s Instagram that she’s definitely a quirky individual. So, yeah, how that dynamic works will be an interesting one to look out for.