Sarina Wiegman has said the lack of young, homegrown players featuring in the Women's Super League (WSL) is a concern and has refused to be drawn in on her future with her contract with the Lionesses expiring after next year's Women's World Cup.
Wiegman unveiled her England squad for the forthcoming World Cup playoff doubleheader against Greece with Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly high profile omissions.
She said neither player has hit their best form this season, but she retains faith they will rediscover their rhythm. But with Toone and Kelly omitted, Wiegman has turned to uncapped players Erica Meg Parkinson and Lexi Potter.
Parkinson, 18, plays for North Carolina Courage in the NWSL, while Potter, 20, is prospering at Chelsea in the WSL. But concerns have been raised this season over the lack of homegrown English players featuring for their club sides in the WSL.
According to OPTA, clubs had an average of 45.9% homegrown players in their matchday squads for the 2023-24 WSL season, with that number decreasing to 34.2% so far this term.
London City Lionesses became the first side in the WSL to not include a single English player in their starting line-up on the opening day of a season when they faced Manchester United.
"Yeah, of course that's a worry for me, because of course I want the young players," Wiegman said.
"When you're in your age like say 18 through to 22, 23, it's so important to get meaningful play minutes to develop.
"We also see the trend that if you look at English players -- there's been research on that -- we have fewer minutes than other countries. We really want to get that better.
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"I also want that the Women's Super League to be the best league in the world. It's not a development league; it's a performance league. So of course that clashes a little bit maybe at moments. What we need to figure out, are we gonna get in a place where those players get other minutes in other stages? Then you get more opportunities for them to play and give them those meaningful minutes.
"Of course players need to make good decisions too. So it's important to play where I'm at, how minutes at that point in another club, but I also think in the infrastructure, the FA is really working on that with clubs to create a situation where if you don't make the squad in the WSL, where can you get those meaningful minutes?"
For Wiegman, her immediate concern is steering England past Greece. This is the first of potentially two playoffs needed to qualify for next year's World Cup.
Wiegman's contract expires after next year's tournament and when asked whether discussions had taken place over a possible extension, Wiegman responded: "We had conversations before. We have regular conversations together, and we talk about the future, but at this point I'm just really focusing on Greece and we want to get through and qualify for the World Cup.
"I talk to Mark [Bullingham, FA CEO] every two weeks and we speak about what's happening now, what's in the future, but there's no news now. I'm just focusing on Greece and hopefully the World Cup."
