Park wins PFA WSL Fans' Player of the Month

It completes a hat-trick of Player of the Month accolades won by Jess for her performances last month, having previously picked up the WSL’s official prize and our own supporter-voted gong.

Park starred in both of United Women’s league outings during October, the 1-1 draw with Chelsea and the 4-1 win away to Everton, scoring twice off the bench in the latter.

The 24-year-old’s standout performances in those matches earned her the majority of votes and ensured she beat off competition from five fellow WSL players, including team-mate Ella Toone.

Manchester City’s Kerstin Casparij, Chelsea’s Erin Cuthbert, Elena Linari of London City Lionesses and Aston Villa defender Lynn Wilms were also nominated.

It’s the third time this year that PFA’s monthly WSL prize has been won by a United player, after Toone received the award in January and Elisabeth Terland took February’s crown.

Bryan Mbeumo, meanwhile, claimed the Premier League's PFA accolade for October, making it a United double with Park's latest success.

HOW PARK’S TRANSFER CAME AROUND

In the latest episode of our new club podcast, titled Inside Carrington, director of women’s football Matt Johnson explains how Park’s transfer from Manchester City became a possibility over the summer.

Jess made the move across town on WSL deadline day - as former United midfielder Grace Clinton went the other way - and has since been a thriving performer in Marc Skinner’s side.

Our no.8 starred again, on Wednesday, in the UEFA Champions League win over PSG at Old Trafford, playing a key role in our winning goal, bringing the ball forward from midfield with a silky piece of pass-and-move play before finding Anna Sandberg, who crossed for Fridolina Rolfo to score.

“What’s important is we understand what kind of team we want to be and, when you understand that, you can then fit what kind of profile of players will make that team more effective,” Johnson began on the Inside Carrington podcast, when asked by co-host Liam Bradford to share some insight on Park’s crosstown move.

“We’ve always identified Jess Park as a player that has the profile that we think [fits our team]. Jason [Wilcox] would have talked [on an earlier episode of the podcast] about profiling of players, it’s really important when you bring them in. With the right personality and character.

“So Jess always fitted that, but obviously with the red-and-blue rivalry, moving players between the two teams is really difficult stroke impossible. 

“But what we’re doing now is renegotiating contracts a lot sooner because we want to retain our best players. Unfortunately, Grace wanted to move on, what we put in front of her she didn’t accept. 

“So, then it allowed us to [say]: ‘We don’t want to lose Grace, but she wants to move on. Let’s learn from the past, a lot of players move on for free.’ It gave us leverage to go back to Manchester City and go: ‘There’s a player here that we think will suit our profile. Can we do a deal here?’ That’s how it sort of came around really.”

Episode two of the Inside Carrington podcast also features Diogo Dalot and Phil Jones – watch in full now!