Alessia Russo ruled out of Man Utd's WSL clash with Brighton

Manchester United striker Alessia Russo will miss the WSL clash with Brighton on Sunday because of the injury that forced her to withdraw from the England squad earlier this month.

Russo was ruled out of the Lionesses’ friendly against the United States at Wembley due to what was described as a ‘small injury’ a few days ahead of that game.

The 23-year-old returned to Manchester to recover and trained for the first time on Wednesday, although the Brighton game at the weekend will still come just too soon for her to be involved.

It is a blow for United to lose their top scorer from last season, but the player has been making good progress all the same and manager Marc Skinner has said he has been impressed by the mature way Russo has handled herself and her recovery.

“I’ve been really impressed by her attitude to this [injury],” he said on Wednesday afternoon.

“She’s grown up massively and I’m so pleased with the way she has approached it and performed in training. To have her back on the field even this morning with a smile on her face is a really nice thing,” he added.

Skinner and his staff are taking no chances with Russo’s fitness. She missed most of the 2020/21 season because of long-term injury and the club were previously cautious with her reintroduction at the start of what turned into a breakout 2021/22 campaign.

“We’ll make sure she’s looked after and then she can come into the games when we know she’ll be fit and healthy,” the boss explained.

Russo’s absence against Brighton will mean a slightly different attacking lineup, but Skinner has a number of options he could potentially call on, including Martha Thomas or summer signings Nikita Parris and Adriana Leon. Fellow new arrival Rachel Williams is also back in training.

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